Friends and Lovers
by mandakinss
Summary: Lucas Scott and Peyton Sawyer have been best friends since they could remember. What happens when those feelings start to grow into something more? LP.Slightly AU  R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Friends and Lovers

Summary: Peyton Sawyer and Lucas Scott have been friends forever, what happens when those feelings start to grow into something more?

Pairings: It will incorporate all couples. But LP will be the main focus. It will have LP/NP/BN/NH/LB, most likely.

Note: This fic is Lucas/Peyton/Leyton centric, but I will try to incorporate all characters and the end couples are undecided but there will be a fair amount of each couple. I know it sounds very Dawson's Creek Joey/Dawson - like and it is kinda where I got the idea from. But I'm gonna try my best to not make it so DC-like. It is AU, but the characters have pretty much the same personalities. This is pretty much just a prologue, and in the next chapter I will set up the plot more, and there are differences but I cant tell you, it will ruin it. I can tell you though, that Karen and Kieth are married and Kieth is still alive. Next chapter, I'll fill you in on the rest. Okay, now im gonna shut up before you slap me for rambling.

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AN: This is my first on-going fic. I'm not sure how many chapter it will have though. Maybe 10 or 12 depending on how long I make each one.**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except my ideas.**

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Ah the first day of school. Some love it, some hate it, others despise it. Peyton Sawyer was one of those people. Today she was starting her third year of high school and lets just say, she wasn't exactly thrilled.

"Peyton!" yelled a voice from the bottom of the stairs. _Oh great_. Peyton thought as she heard her best friend Lucas Scott beckon her name followed by his nearing footsteps.

"You either get up in ten minutes or I'm not driving your lazy ass to school." Lucas said as he reached her door and saw her still laying in her bed.

"…Too early" Peyton grumbled as she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

"Come on Peyton, rise and shine." Lucas said, clearly not giving up, he went over to her windows and pulled up the shades allowing the sun to shine in through her window, its rays landing right on Peyton's face, as Lucas hoped it would.

"Ugh, Luke how are you so … awake, this morning?" Peyton said, finally giving in, throwing the covers off herself and getting out of bed.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just a morning person, which you are not." Lucas said.

"Yeah you're right about that." Peyton mumbled as she headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"Uhuh, I've known you for years Peyt, and not once have you ever been in a good mood in the morning." Lucas said, matter of factly.

"Yeah, well I'm normal. You, my friend, are just … weird." Peyton said from the bathroom door, while walking to her closet.

"Whatever you say blondie, now come on, move it. Don't want to be late for our first day of hell."

"That's an understatement." Peyton mumbled from inside her closet.

"You never know, maybe it wont be so bad this year. I mean, junior year is a big year, college plans and whatnot …maybe people changed over the summer."

"Yeah right, people never change Luke, they just get older." Peyton said as she finished getting ready. "Okay, I'm finished, let's go." Peyton said as she grabbed Lucas' arm and dragged him out the door.

The two pulled up to the school and parked in their usual spot in the lot. There were tons of kids scattered everywhere, all in different clicks, the jocks, the cheerleaders, the nerds, the outcasts, the rich kids, and then there were Lucas and Peyton. They never really fit into a specific group. Peyton had friends, Lucas had friends, they both had good grades, but never really made an effort to join the 'it' crowd. No, these two were in a league of their own, they spent most of their time together .They met when they started junior high, so they were about twelve years old. Ever since then, they were pretty much inseparable. Peyton spent a lot of her time at Lucas' house and his mom's café. Especially since Peyton's mom had passed away and he dad wasn't around much, his job made him travel a lot.

"Ready for this Sawyer?" Lucas asked Peyton as they got their stuff out of the car.

"Ready as I'll ever be Scott." Peyton answered. And with that they entered what they hoped to be a good year. But as long as they had each other, they would survive.

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So? What'd ya think? Good? Bad? Horrible? Amazing? Let me know. And if you have any ideas or preferences to share with me, please don't be afraid to tell me. Leave me a rambling review or two, its what I'm famous for doing lol.

I will continue this fic whether or not I get reviews because although I love reviews, I love my ideas more and I have to post them lol.


	2. Chapter 2

And heres the second chapter of my story, hope you like it. Reviews are always appreciated, and give me motivation to write more. And I apoligize for the slow updating, but I'm kinda new at this chapter by chapter story writing thing and also I'm quite the lazy ass and sometimes I need to be super motivated, so bear with me. I'm working on the third chapter now, and I may get the fourth done too, so expect an update within the next two days, god willing.

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Tree Hill High - Hallway

"Luke!" Peyton yelled as she spotted Lucas walking down the hall.

"Oh thank god." Lucas said as he walked toward her. "This place is crazy today, there's like two hundred freshman and they don't know how to walk down a frikin' hallway!"

"I know, they just sit there and stare into space like zombies." Peyton said, clearly annoyed with the amount of freshman. "But I guess, we were in that position once, maybe we should have some sympathy for them…" Peyton said as Lucas gave her a look. "Yeah maybe not." Peyton said causing Lucas to laugh. They started walking toward the quad, and found an empty table and sat down at it.

"You get your locker assignment yet?" Lucas asked.

"Yep. 204. You?"

"205." Lucas answered

"Awesome. Must be alphabetical." Peyton said "How's your schedule?"

"Eh, its not too bad. I have study hall last period, gives me time to do all my homework. But I have Mr. Kramer for Trig first thing in the morning." Lucas said, cringing at the thought of that over-sized man, who falls asleep during class by the way, teaching him math at eight in the morning.

"Ouch, sucks to be you. But, uh, we have second, third, seventh and eight period together. Good enough for me." Peyton said as she compared their schedules.

"Cool. What classes are they?" Lucas asked.

"Uhm… English lit, American History, Physics and Study Hall."

"Good we have all the snooze-fests together."

"Sweet." Peyton said.

"Hey guys." A blonde girl said as she sat down across from Lucas and Peyton.

"Oh, hey Haley." Lucas greeted.

Haley James. She was one of the few students at Tree Hill High that Lucas and Peyton could stand to be around. In fact, she was a very good friend of the two. She worked at Lucas' mother's café, so she spent a lot of time with them. She was also a part time tutor because she was well… a young Einstein.

"So, how's your first day going?" Peyton asked.

"Great. My schedule rocks, I was bumped up to AP Biology because some senior dropped out, my locker is on the end of the row, which means I only have to deal with one annoying person next to me, who isn't even that annoying. I can actually carry my books without falling over and-"

"Okay Hales, we get it. You're such a nerd sometimes." Lucas said, cutting her off before she went any further.

"I am not a nerd, I just like to learn. Besides, knowledge is power you know." Haley said. Lucas and Peyton laughed. "What about you guys? How's your day going?"

"Well, our lockers are next to each other, so that's a major plus and we have four classes together. With the exception of the pain in the neck freshman, its all good." Peyton answered.

"That's good."

"So what are you guys up to tonight?" Haley asked.

"Ah, the usual. Enjoying the days we have left without homework, probably a movie or two at my house. You in?" Lucas asked.

"Sure, got nothing else to do tonight."

"Well, I'm glad to see hanging out with us is on the top of your priority list." Peyton joked. Lucas and Haley laughed as the bell rang.

"Okay, well better get going, don't want to be late for class." And with that Haley James disappeared across the quad.

"She needs a hobby." Lucas said eliciting a laugh from Peyton.

"Definitely. Well, we should get to class to."

"Yeah I guess so." Lucas said as he got up and walked towards the school building with Peyton in tow.

The rest of the day went by extremely slow. Both Lucas and Peyton had to fight to keep from going completely insane while waiting for the day to end. And just when they had given up hope, the bell rang, signaling that school was over for the day.

"Hey ya blondie." Lucas said as he snuck up behind Peyton at her locker, causing her to jump.

"Dude you scared me. "

"Sorry." Lucas said, laughing.

"Thank god this day is over!" Peyton said.

"I know. So what are we doing? Café then my house?"

"That's what we always do, so yeah." Peyton agreed.

"Well then, shall we?" and with that Lucas and Peyton walked towards his car.

"Hey mom." Lucas said as he and Peyton entered Karen's Café, the small café that his mother owned.

"Hey Luke, Peyton." Karen said.

"Hey Karen."

"What can I get you?"

"Uh, the usual I guess." Lucas said as he sat down at the counter.

"Peyton?" Karen asked.

"Yeah the usual sounds good." Peyton said as she sat down next to Lucas.

"You got it. Two plates of cheese fries comin' right up." Karen said as she retreated into the kitchen. Ten minutes later she was back with their food.

"Here you go. So how was school today?"

"School was school, is it ever actually good?" Peyton said while stuffing a fry into her mouth.

"It wasn't that bad actually, we have a few classes together and our lockers are next to each other." Lucas answered, ignoring Peyton's comment.

"Oh well that's good." Karen said, as she excused herself to tend to a customer. "Sorry about that guys, uhm… Lucas I have some news for you."

"Good or bad?"

"Depends on how you look at it."

"Okay, shoot."

"Well, you know your half brother Nathan who lives in Charlotte with your father?"

Lucas already could see that this was not going to be good. Dan abandoned Lucas when he was little, leaving Karen and Lucas' uncle Kieth to raise him. He left them for Deb, his current wife, who was pregnant with Lucas' half brother Nathan. Karen and Kieth got married when Lucas was eight years old, Kieth is the only father Lucas has ever known. As for Nathan, he used to go to school with Lucas, and he would get ragged on all the time by Nathan and his friends. Dan, Deb and Nathan moved to Charlotte when they were about ten years old. Dan's an ass, Nathan's an ass, and Deb's the only one that Karen or Lucas could tolerate.

"Yeah what about him?"

"Well, Dan and Deb are apparently getting divorced and Dan is moving here with Nathan."

"You've got to be kidding me." Was all Lucas could say at the moment.

"Lucas I know you may not like Nathan-"

"Not like him? I can't stand him! Mom you know what an ass he's been to me my whole life." Lucas said, clearly annoyed.

"I know that Luke, and I'm not exactly in the Dan Scott fan club either, but you're going to be attending the same school, and I just thought I would give you a heads up. "

"How did Dan get custody?"

"Oh well you know him, he probably bribed the lawyer." Karen said. "Now, I have work to do, so I'll so I'll see the two of you later at the house."

"Okay." Lucas answered. "So much for this being a good year, huh?" He asked, turning towards Peyton.

"Maybe it won't be so bad Luke."

"Yeah right, my arch enemy moving to the very small town I live in, attending the same school, oh yeah Peyton its gonna be just great." Lucas said, sarcastically.

"Sorry. But you never know, maybe he's changed."

"What happened to "people never change"?"

"Contradicting myself aren't i?"

"Yeah, ya are."

"I don't know, anything's possible."

"Whatever, lets just, enjoy the last free days we have. Want to stop by the river court? See if Skills and the guys are there?" Lucas asked, trying to get his mind off the fact that his life was going from bad to worse.

"Sure, I have nothing better to do." And with that, Peyton and Lucas left the café and headed to the River Court.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Okay, two updates in one day. You guys are lucky lol ... The next chapter is almost finished and should be up some time tomorrow, but enjoy them because I dont know when the next one will be up. The other night when I came up with this idea, I scribbled some ideas down on a post-it (at four in the morning when I was wide awake, in the dark, thinking about a story and the idea came to me lol), and by scribbled i mean, i didnt even use full words, I just wrote, i used abreviations and god knows what else, so all of my ideas are there, they just need to be detailed and written. And in the next two chapters, I realized I made it seem like Nathan and Lucas were going to be at each other's throats all the time, but they really arent, with the exception of a few names being called, so don't hate me for contradicting myself. It's just easier that way. So, enjoy the update and the next chapter will be up tomorrow afternoon, maybe earlier.

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River Court

After leaving the café, Lucas and Peyton headed to the River Court. They had always spent a lot of time there, it was a kind of safe haven for them, because nobody except them and a few of their friends ever hung out there. As they pulled up they saw Skills and few others playing a game of basketball.

"Yo Luke, Peyton." Skills greeted as Lucas and Peyton walked from his car to the court.

"Hey guys." Lucas said.

"Want to join in Luke?" one of the other guys asked.

"Sure let me drop my stuff first." Lucas said as he walked to the bleachers to put his stuff down.

"What about you Peyton?" Skills asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"Yeah right, and you've known me for how long?"

"Ya know, one of these days I'm gonna force you to play a game."

"Go ahead and try, see what happens to you."

"Mark my words, Sawyer." Skills said. Peyton was not one for basketball, whenever she and Lucas would go there, she would sit on the bleachers and talk to Mouth. Mouth didn't play either, but he was interested in becoming a sports writer, so he payed close attention, he even pretended to be a sports announcer sometimes. Lucas, on the other hand, had a lot of talent for the sport, but he didn't think so. He was never really into the whole varsity basketball scene.

"Hey Mouth." Peyton said as she approached the bleachers.

"Hey Peyton, whats up?"

"Eh the usual, first day of school blues."

"Gotcha." Mouth said as Peyton laughed.

Lucas, Skills decided to play a one on one game, and Peyton and Mouth watched from the sidelines. Peyton cheered Lucas on as Mouth recorded the play by play into his microphone.

"And now Lucas has the ball, Skills trails by four. Lucas jumps, he shoots and he scores making the score now 10 to 5. If Lucas makes this shot, he could take the game."

"Go Luke!!" Peyton cheered, while making noises that resembled that of a crowd's cheers.

"And its Luke for the win." Mouth said, as Lucas took the shot and scored.

"And Lucas Scott adds another win to his collection, making him the still undefeated champion." Mouth said, as Lucas and Skills walked over to where they were sitting.

"Great game guys. You know Lucas, they're looking for new players on the school team, maybe you should try out." Mouth suggested.

"Nah, I don't think so. I mean, I'm not exactly varsity material."

"Yeah, right dawg. We've played how many games on this court? And you've won just about every single one." Skills said.

"I don't know, I'll think about it. Anyway, uh its 6 o'clock, we should get going Peyt, before the video store closes."

"Yes sir." Peyton agreed in a mocking matter.

"See you later guys." "Bye"

"What was that all about?" Peyton asked as she and Lucas reached the car.

"What was what about?"

"You'll think about trying out for the team? Since when is Mr. Lucas Scott even remotely interested in joining an organized sport?"

"I don't know, I mean, maybe its time for a change. You said it yourself, maybe this year will be different. Well maybe I should make it different."

"Okay."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

"No, that wasn't nothing. That was a loaded comment Peyton."

"No it wasn't."

"You don't think I can do it, do you? You don't think I'm good enough for the team."

"I did not say that! I think you're good at it, you know you are. I've known you forever, and I just didn't peg you for an organized sport kinda guy."

"Well, maybe I am." Lucas stated.

"Maybe you are. Can we just drop it? Lets just go to the video store and rent a stupid pointless comedy to occupy our time."

"Sounds like a plan." Lucas agreed.

"Mom? We're back." Lucas yelled at he and Peyton walked through his front door.

"Oh hey kids. Uhm, Lucas can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah sure, be right back." Lucas said.

"Sure. I'll set up the movie." Peyton said as she headed to Lucas' room.

"What's up?" Lucas asked his mother as he entered the kitchen.

"Its about Nathan." Karen said as Lucas' expression changed from happy to angry.

"What about him?"

"Well, Deb still has some stuff to sort out with the divorce and Dan has to also, so she asked if Nathan could stay with us for a few days while they get everything settled. She doesn't want him to miss anymore school."

"Are you shitting me?" Lucas said through clenched teeth.

"Watch it Lucas."

"Sorry, but mom you cannot be serious. You accepted this agreement? You know how much I hate him!" Lucas yelled.

"Lucas Eugene Scott, you watch your tone with me. Now, they are going to move here whether you want it or not, so might as well make the best of it. Believe me, I'm not thrilled about this either, but people can change, you never know. Maybe Nathan is a completely different person than before."

"Yeah right."

"Please Lucas, don't make a big deal out of this, okay, he's going to stay in the guest room, which is on the opposite side of the house, you wont even have to see him most of the time."

"Whatever. I'll be in my room."

"Lucas-"

"Forget it, Mom. Just drop it for now, please?"

"Okay, but theres one more thing … He gets here first thing tomorrow morning." Karen said, as Lucas sighed.

"Great." Lucas said as he stalked off toward his room.

"Shoot me." Lucas said as he plopped down on his bed next to Peyton, who was sitting there, waiting for him.

"What happened?" Peyton asked.

"Oh nothing, just the fact that my arch enemy, aka Nathan Scott, is going to staying at my house for the next week, starting tomorrow."

"Ouch. Why?"

"I don't know, some divorce shit, Deb doesn't want her Einstein son to miss any more school. I wonder if she knows he's a complete dumbass."

"Well, maybe it wont be so bad. I mean, if he's living here you're going to have to get along with him, so maybe you'll learn to like each other." Peyton said, as Lucas glared at her. "Point taken." Peyton said, backing off.

"Well, lets enjoy the movie and forget about this for the moment, please." Lucas said.

"Sure." Peyton said as she picked up the remote and got comfortable.

"What movie did you get?"

"Breakfast Club."

"Again? Jesus Peyton, isn't twenty times enough?"

"Nope." And with that, the two teens got settled, side by side on Lucas' bed and enjoyed the movie.

"I'm hungry." Peyton said after a half hour of silence.

"What else is new." Lucas said under his breath, causing him to receive a slap on the arm from Peyton.

"I heard that. Come on, I havn't eaten since lunch and its now … seven thirty." Peyton said.

"Fine, fine. I'll see what we have in the kitchen."

"Thanks Luke." Peyton said, smiling victoriously.

Ten minutes later, Lucas was back with two P,B & J sandwiches. Peyton looked at him oddly.

"Hey it was either this, or three day old tuna." Lucas said, catching her drift.

"Good choice." Peyton said as she grabbed the plate from Lucas and started eating.

"Calm down Peyt, the foods not going anywhere."

"I told you I was starving." Peyton said, with a mouthful.

"Uhuh." Lucas said before taking a bite of his own sandwich.

"That was good. Thanks Luke." Peyton said as she finished her sandwich and went back to watching the movie.

"No problem. Now, anything else before I get comfortable? A soda? A kidney maybe?" Lucas joked.

"Nope, I'm good." Peyton said. And with that, the two went back to enjoying the movie, which they both had seen at least a hundred times, but still laughed at.

Before the movie had finished, Lucas and Peyton had both fallen asleep. Karen walked in, and smiled at the site. She shut the television off and turned off the light. Peyton had spent many a night at Lucas' house, which Karen didn't mind because they were friends who had never shown any other type of interest in each other. She trusted them enough to allow them to sleep in the same bed. Besides, Peyton didn't really have much to go home to, except a big empty house.


	4. Chapter 4

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Beep. Beep. Beep. Smack.

Lucas awoke to the annoying sound of his alarm clock, and then, smacked it, and not so gently. That smack was what woke Peyton up who had been sleeping on Lucas' shoulder.

"Sorry." Peyton said, referring to her previous position on his shoulder.

"No problem. Guess we fell asleep huh?"

"Looks that way." Peyton said, not missing the awkwardness of this situation. _We always used to sleep in the same bed, why does it feel really awkward now? _Peyton thought to herself. "What time is Nathan getting here?" Peyton asked.

And like clock work, they heard a car door slam. "Speak of the devil. Must be them now." Lucas said, as he groaned and leaned back in his bed, smothering himself with a pillow.

"Oh come on, give him a chance, Luke. I mean you havn't seen the guy since you were like seven."

"Once an ass, always an ass." Lucas said from under the pillow.

"Okay, that's it. Come on, let's go, enough of this." Peyton said while getting up and pulling Lucas with her.

"Well, isn't this the pot calling the kettle black."

"Huh?"

"You're not a morning person, you're always grumpy in the morning, and now that I'm the grumpy one, you're all cheery."

"Good point. Why am I so cheery?"

"I don't know, but its freaking me out a bit." Lucas said as Peyton laughed.

"Lucas! Come out here a sec." Karen called from the living room.

"Let the fun begin." Lucas said sarcastically as he and Peyton walked out of his room toward the living room.

"Good morning kids. Uh, Nathan, you remember Lucas, and that's Lucas' best friend Peyton."

"Nice to meet you." Peyton said, extended her hand.

"Yeah, whatever." Nathan said.

"Okay, well, lets get you settled. I'll take your bags to your room and Lucas will show you around a bit. Won't you Lucas?" Karen asked, giving Lucas the death glare. Lucas and Nathan just stood there, staring at each other.

"Look guys, you're going to have to get used to each other, you're both going to be in the same house for a while, might as well make the best of it." Karen said, as she gave up and walked down the hall towards the guest room.

"She's right, guys." Peyton said, trying to play peace-maker.

"Yeah, sure." Lucas said. "We should at least try."

"Yeah, I guess so. But don't expect us to become best friends, I don't socialize with bastard kids." Nathan said causing Lucas to clench his fists. Peyton, sensing that Lucas was about ten seconds away from going WWE Smack-Down on Nathan's ass, stepped between the two.

"Okay, guys, why don't we get that tour started." Peyton said, looking at Lucas. Lucas just shook his head and walked down the hall.

"Yeah, why don't I give you that tour." Peyton offered, as Nathan nodded. She knew this house like the back of her hand, so she led him around showing him where everything was.

"So, uh, what are you bastard's - I mean, Lucas' girlfriend or something? Or just a ..uh friend with benefits?" Nathan asked as the tour concluded.

"What? Me and Lucas? No way, I mean… we're just friends. Best friends, actually. We've known each other forever."

"Oh, I see." Nathan said, not buying it.

"We are!" Peyton said, getting a tad defensive.

"Okay, I believe you." Nathan said, grinning.

"Okay, you know what? I was going to try to be nice to you, give you the benefit of the doubt, but seeing how you acted before and how you're acting now, I see why Lucas doesn't like you. You really are an ass."

"You've know me for not even an hour, and already you're calling me names?"

"Yeah, I am. Okay, now if you two want to act like three year olds and have name calling matches or whatever, go right ahead, but I am not going to just stand by and let you treat my best friend like shit."

"What's going on out here?" Karen said as she re-emerged from the guest room.

"Nothing, Karen, just getting to know each other, that's all." Peyton said, before Nathan could say a word.

"Okay, where's Lucas?"

"Probably crying in a corner somewhere." Nathan said.

"He's in his room getting ready for school, which I should probably do too, I'm going to run home, shower and change. Tell Lucas, I'll meet him at school." Peyton said as she headed for the door.

"Will do, Peyton." Karen said.

Ten minutes later, Lucas came out of his room.

"Where's Peyton?" Lucas asked, seeing that she wasn't in the room.

"She went home to change, she said she'd meet you at school." Karen answered.

"Okay. I should get going too. See you later, Ma."

"Uh, Lucas, aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?"

"Nathan. You're going to have to drive him to school."

"Perfect." Lucas mumbled. "Fine, let's go."

"Be good!" Karen yelled as the two teens exited the house.

The ride to school was nothing if not tense. They didn't speak a word, they didn't even look at each other. It was silent, until Lucas spoke up.

"Look, Nathan, I'm trying this thing this year, I'm trying to change and give new things a chance. Now, I cant stand you, you cant stand me, but I think we can learn how to exist together without being at each other's throats twenty four hours a day." Lucas suggested, honestly not knowing where all of this was coming from.

"Fine." Nathan agreed as they stepped out of the car. "So, uh, this is Tree Hill High?"

"Yeah, sorry, its not an Ivy League Prep School, but its decent enough."

"Whatever." And with that lovely sentiment, Nathan walked away towards the school building.

"Luke!" Peyton yelled from across the parking lot. She walked towards him, accompanied by Haley.

"Hey Peyt, Haley."

"Hey Luke." Haley said.

"So… How'd it go after I left this morning?"

"Left this morning? What'd you do sleep over?" Haley asked.

"Yeah, we fell asleep watching a movie last night." Peyton answered.

"You two are so going to wind up married some day." Haley said.

"Yeah whatever Hales. So how'd it go?"

"Actually, I took your advice, and I think we came to a mutual agreement. I don't bother him, he doesn't bother me." Lucas answered.

"See, now was that so hard?" Peyton said.

"Yeah whatever, lets get to class."

"Okay." And with that, Lucas, Haley and Peyton walked to class.

In Class

"Okay, class, seems we have a new student joining us, Nathan Scott. Nathan why don't you sit down behind Peyton."

"Scott? Like Lucas Scott? Are you, like, related?" One of the ditzy cheerleaders asked as Nathan sat down.

"Unfortunately." Nathan muttered under his breath. Before they knew it, the whole class began whispering about how they were related, and the whole thing about Dan getting Lucas' mother pregnant and leaving her for Nathan's mother. The news worked its way around the whole school by the time the day was over. The day went by slowly, and it was just Lucas' luck that Nathan was in every one of his classes and his locker was right next to his. Damn alphabetical order.

The bell rang signaling the end of the day. Lucas got up and walked to his locker, and Peyton went to follow but was stopped by the teacher.

"Peyton can I speak to you for a moment?" asked Mrs. Nolan, the school guidance counselor.

"Sure." Peyton said as she followed her into her office, only to be met with the one and only Nathan Scott who was already sitting in a chair in front of her desk.

"Please, have a seat." Peyton did as she was told, taking a seat next to Nathan.

"Now, Peyton, you've already met Nathan."

"Yes I have."

"Okay, well since he's a new student, he has some catching up to do, because his old school taught a different curriculum. Now, you have good grades and all, so I was hoping you could help him out a bit?"

"Wh-Why me?"

"Mr. Scott requested you. He said he already knew you, and you two were friendly. It would be a nice gesture Peyton, plus it would give you some college credits, community service in a way."

"Uhm, I don't know – I mean, I'm swamped with work and-"

"Please, Ms. Sawyer."

"I don't know, I'll have to check."

"Okay, tell you what, I'll give you until Friday, that's two days away, to make a decision."

"Okay. Thank you." Peyton said as she walked out of the office, toward her locker.

"Hey Peyton, wait up!" Nathan yelled as he ran after her.

"Are you insane?" Peyton said.

"Oh come on, they said I needed 'guidance' so I figured who better than a girl that I already knew, or well sort of, and one that's frequently at the place that I happen to be staying at." Nathan said.

"Yeah right, you did this because you're trying to instigate Lucas anyway you can." Peyton said, knowing exactly why he was doing this.

"No, I wasn't. Come on, please? You get college credit for it, plus it boosts you're popularity by hanging out with me."

"You're new to the school, how are you popular?"

"I always manage to become a popular guy." Nathan said, slyly.

"Okay, you know what, fine I'll help you, but only if you promise to back off of Lucas." Peyton threatened.

"Fine, but if he starts anything, I'll have no choice but to defend myself."

"Whatever." And with that, Peyton left the school and headed for the parking lot.

"Hey what happened to you?" Lucas asked as he saw Peyton. "I've been waiting forever."

"Sorry, I had some stuff to do."

"Like what?"

"Okay, Luke, there's no sense in lying to you. The guidance counselor asked me to help Nathan out with some stuff, since Haley has an already full tutoring schedule."

"And you said no right?" Lucas asked, as Peyton looked toward the ground. "Peyton! You've got to be kidding me."

"Look, Luke, come on. I had no choice in the matter. Plus, you agreed to give him a chance, right?"

"I guess, but you still could've checked with me first."

"Now I have to check with you every time I make a decision in my life?"

"Peyton that's not what I meant-."

"You know what? I'm going to walk home today … is that okay with you? See you later." Peyton said as she stormed off.

"Peyton! Wait!" Lucas yelled, but it had no effect because Peyton ignored his pleas and continued to walk. And just when he thought things couldn't have gotten any worse, he saw Nathan walking towards him.

"Sorry I'm later I had –"

"Stuff to do? Like forcing my best friend to tutor you just to annoy me?"

"Look, man, I didn't do it to annoy you, I did it because Peyton's the only person besides you that I know in this school."

"Whatever, just get in the car." And with that, Lucas and Nathan drove home.

Lucas stopped in front of the house and Nathan went to get out, but after seeing that Lucas wasn't moving, turned toward him.

"You coming?" Nathan asked.

"No, I have to go talk to Peyton."

"What's up with you two anyway? She said you aren't dating, but I cant help but think otherwise. I mean, she sleeps in your bed, you two finish each other's sentences for god sake."

"There is nothing going on between me and Peyton. She's my best friend, she has been since junior high."

"So you're not dating?"

"No."

"So if I wanted to ask her out, there wouldn't be an issue?"

"Stay away from Peyton." Lucas said, while glaring at Nathan.

"Last I checked, you didn't own her or me for that matter, so if I wanted to ask her out I could, and if she said yes, there's nothing you could do about it."

"Like she'd go out with you anyway."

"I got her to tutor me didn't I?" Nathan said as he got out of the car and walked toward the house. Lucas then headed to Peyton's to try to apologize.

* * *

AN: Okay, I mentioned this in the last update about Nathan and Lucas being civil towards one another. I just cant seem to make it work so that they're always at each other's throats, so they're going to be civil and try to get along, but they will butt heads occasionally, but as the story progresses, much like the show, they will grow closer.

Now with the Peyton tutoring Nathan thing, you can kinda see where I'm going with it, and it is like the Haley season 1 situation, but I couldnt find a way around that, so sorry if you feel like I'm just re-writing the show with different names. I'm trying as hard as I can to change it, but this is how it works for my story at the moment. I hope you all like it and as always, reviews are appreciated.


	5. Chapter 5

On the way to Peyton's house, all Lucas could think of was what would happen if Nathan really did ask Peyton out. _She would never fall for him_, he thought, _She's Peyton, she's never been into guys like him. _He pushed the thoughts out of his head as he pulled up to Peyton's house. He could hear the music blasting through her windows from the driveway, so he knew she was home, plus her car was in front of the house.

He got out of the car and walked to the door, opened it, since she never locked it and walked up to her room and knocked on the door, but due to the music, she didn't hear it so he opened it and saw her sitting at her desk drawing and bobbing her head up and down to the music.

"Peyton!" He yelled trying to get her attention, but she didn't hear him so he walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder. She jumped ten feet in the air and screamed.

"God, Lucas you scared the shit out of me!" Peyton yelled, with her hand over her chest trying to calm down.

"Sorry."

"You should be."

"Not just sorry for that, I'm sorry for before too." He said, looking her in the eye "I shouldn't have acted like I did. I know you have your own life and I'm not trying to control it in anyway. You're my best friend Peyton and I really don't want anything to come between us."

"Its okay Luke, and I don't either, I mean who would come with me every week to check out the new music in the record store or who would I complain about my life to if I didn't have you?" Peyton said while Lucas laughed.

"So, we're okay?"

"Yeah, we are." Peyton said smiling.

"Great." Lucas said. "So what're you up to?"

"Eh nothing really, just doodling."

"Can I see?" Lucas said, pointing to the sketch pad she had on her lap.

"No." Peyton said simply.

"Why not?" Lucas asked while laughing a bit.

"Because… its not finished yet."

"You're really getting into this art thing aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess I am, I mean I just do it out of boredom, but I enjoy it."

"Good for you, Peyt." Lucas said. "Basketball tryouts are tomorrow."

"Are you going to try out?"

"I was thinking about it, I mean, that whole trying something new thing, I guess I could try it out."

"I think you should, I mean, you never know, maybe you could be the next Ravens superstar."

"Oh yeah right. Me of all people."

"Stranger things have happened."

"Okay, well its about five o'clock now, what're we doing tonight?"

"Well, there's a double feature at the theatre tonight, Haley said she wanted to go, so maybe we could go with her?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Okay, let me just change first and we'll go for pizza and head to the theatre."

"Sounds like a plan, I'll wait here."

And ten minutes later Peyton was ready to go and she and Lucas left for the pizzeria and the theatre.

* * *

"Hey guys." Haley said as she saw the two blondes walk up to the theatre.

"Hey Hales." Peyton said.

"Hi Haley." Lucas said. "So, shall we?" Lucas asked as he held the door open for the two girls.

"God there are like no seats in here." Peyton whispered as they walked through the isles trying to find a seat.

"There's four in the middle down there." Haley said pointing to four empty seats in the third row.

"Good enough for us." Peyton said as she walked ahead to grab the seats. The three sat down, only to be joined five minutes later by Nathan who conveniently took the open seat next to Peyton.

"You got to be kidding me." Lucas mumbled as he saw Nathan sit down, knowing he was into Peyton.

"Hey Nathan." Peyton greeted.

"Hey fancy meeting you here." Nathan said.

"I bet." Lucas said.

"Lucas." Peyton said, with a glare.

"Whatever, lets just watch the movie."

"Good idea."

Through the first half of the movie, Nathan and Peyton got really chatty and Lucas was having a very hard time with it, considering he knew exactly why Nathan was doing it, whether he admitted it or not.

"You are so jealous right now." Haley commented to Lucas, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"What? I am no-"

"Yeah right, whatever you say buddy."

"I am NOT jealous. Peyton's my best friend, she has been for several years, god why does everyone keep saying things like that?"

"Because its true. You two were like made for each other, sooner or later you're going to realize it."

"Yeah right. Dude, Peyton's like… my sister."

"Uhuh. Well, I could cut a knife in the sexual tension between you two."

"Haley! Knock it off, okay? I am not interested in Peyton… in that way."

"Okay." Haley said simply, not buying it at all.

_Could I be into Peyton? No… no I'm not. She's just my friend, nothing more._ Lucas thought to himself as he quickly pushed the thoughts out of his head.

The movies ended and the three … make that four teens exited the theatre. Nathan and Peyton were still laughing and talking, while Lucas and Haley walked silently.

"Okay, well I'll see you guys tomorrow at school." Haley said as she walked off.

"Bye Haley." The three teens said at the same time.

"Come on Peyton, I'll walk you home." Lucas said.

"Um, actually Luke, Nathan offered to walk me home already." Peyton said while walking over to Lucas, away from Nathan.

"Oh." Lucas said, angrily.

"Come on Luke, don't be like that, we all agreed to try to get along."

"Do you like him?" Lucas asked out of the blue.

"Like him? Uh .. I mean, well, so far he's been nothing but nice to me, and I really have no choice in the matter. Look, Lucas somtimes I think you jump to conclusions and take everything he says the wrong way, I mean have you even ever talked to him? Maybe you guys can find some common ground." Peyton said, not really wanting to get into this right now.

"Yeah, right ... I gotta go, I'll see you tomorrow." Lucas said as he walked away. _Why was she defending him? _He thought.

"Lucas-" Peyton called.

"Forget it Peyton, I'll pick you up for school tomorrow."

"Okay, bye Luke." And with that sentiment, Peyton and Lucas walked in different directions. Peyton walked home with Nathan and Lucas walked home … alone.

* * *

"Okay, well this is my stop." Peyton said as she and Nathan reached her house.

"Yeah I guess so." Nathan said.

"Look Nathan, I'm sorry if Lucas was being a total ass before, he gets like that occasionally, he's just protective of me, that's all." Peyton said.

"No problem."

"Yeah… well I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Would you consider going out with me sometime? I mean nothing huge, just a movie? Maybe dinner?" Nathan asked, more like blurted out.

"Uhm …"

"I get it, you don't want to hurt Lucas, its fine."

"No, I mean, Lucas doesn't run my life, so yeah I would like that actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Great. So how's Friday night? Pick you up at 7?"

"Sure." Peyton said smiling.

"Great, see you tomorrow." Nathan said as he walked down the path towards Lucas' house, with a triumphant grin on his face, because he knew Lucas was going to pop a blood vessel when he found out. It wasn't all because of Lucas, Nathan really did like Peyton, she was pretty, smart and she had amazing legs, so for Nathan, it was a win-win situation. He got to go out with a great girl, plus he got to piss off Lucas. Friday was going to be a hell of a night.

* * *

Okay, so theres chapter 5, next one is finished and will most likely be up later today, dont want to bombard you with chapters lol. Now, I know a lot of you are anxious for LP to get together, but as I said before, its going to take some time, and things are better when anticipated right? lol. I hope you contine reading, because next few chapters have some drama in them, which will lead to some LP stuff. So bear with me, I'm still trying to coordinate my ideas. So, expect at least one other update today, maybe two. And leave reviews, I really love them, you guys make my day. And if you have any suggestions, questions or comments feel free to tell me. 


	6. Chapter 6

The next day Lucas woke up early, ate breakfast and headed over to Peyton's to pick her up for school, but of course, not before Karen could remind him that he had to drive Nathan also, considering he had the only car.

"Wait here, I'll go get Peyton." Lucas said to Nathan as he got out of the car and walked to Peyton's door.

"Peyton?" Lucas said as he walked up her stairs and entered her room.

"Be out in a minute Luke." Peyton called out from her closet.

"Okay." Lucas said as he waited for her.

"Okay, all done." Peyton said as she came out of her closet dressed in her infamous Ramone's shirt and a pair of black jeans.

"Great, lets go before we're late."

"Dude, we have plenty of time." Peyton said as she looked for her bag. "Um, I kinda have something to talk you about actually."

"..Okay" Lucas said, not liking the tone of her voice.

"Okay, well… don't flip out, but Nathan kinda …"

"Nathan what Peyton?" Lucas urged, getting impatient.

"He asked me out last night." Peyton blurted out.

"What?!?" Lucas yelled.

"I told you not to flip out!"

"Well how can I not? Please tell me you said no." Lucas said as Peyton just looked down at the floor, avoiding eye contact. "You said yes?! Oh my God!"

"Stop yelling!" Peyton said getting annoyed. "Look Lucas, if I want to go out with Nathan, its my decision, not yours. And yes, I did accept his invitation."

"You know he's just doing this to screw with me right?"

"Why is it so hard for you to think that he actually could be interested in me?" Peyton said, getting annoyed.

"You know what? Fine, go out with the asshole, I don't care anymore." Lucas said as he turned around and headed for the door.

"Lucas, could you just stop for a minute and hear me out." Peyton said as Lucas turned to face her. "Look, I know you don't like him, but he's been nothing but nice to me and he seems like a pretty nice guy. Over the past few days that he's been here, he hasn't done anything to you, so could you just give him a chance? Please? For me?" Peyton said, giving Lucas the best puppy dog eyes she could muster.

"Fine." Lucas said.

"Thank you." Peyton said, hugging Lucas and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Now lets get going, don't want to be late for another day in hell."

And with that, they headed back to the car and off to school. The ride to school was anything but silent, Nathan and Peyton were talking excessively about whatever they could and Lucas would join in occasionally, but couldn't help but feel like a third wheel.

"So, you a music fan Nathan?" Peyton asked as they got out of the car

"Not really. I mean, I listen to the radio a lot, but I don't really get into the whole music scene."

"Ah, me and Luke are huge music fans. We've been to how many concerts Luke?"

"Good question, quite a few." Lucas answered. It was true; he and Peyton had always been huge music freaks that would jump at any chance to see a live band. "Speaking of, Dashboard Confessional's supposed to be playing soon. Wanna go?"

"Dude, how long have you known me. I'm so in!" Peyton squealed. "You are Dashboard fan Nathan?"

"Never heard of 'em." Nathan said as Lucas and Peyton stared at him. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Have you been living under a rock?" Peyton asked, surprised that he hadn't heard of them.

"I told you I wasn't a music freak."

"Well, if you're going to hang out with us, we must teach you the ways of Dashboard Confessional."

"Sounds like fun."

"Yeah well, I gotta find Haley, she borrowed my Lit text book and I need it for first period. See you later?"

"Yeah sure." Lucas said as Peyton walked away.

"Peyton tell you we're going out tomorrow?" Nathan said.

"Yeah she did."

"Told you she'd go out with me."

"Don't get your hopes up. Peyton's not much of a date person. She's been on exactly two dates since I've known her, and both of them ended badly."

"Whatever."

"Look, all I have to say is, if you're doing this just to screw with me and you wind up hurting Peyton, you'll be sorry. She means a lot to me and if you hurt her, you'll have to deal with me later." Lucas said staring Nathan square in the eye.

"That a threat?"

"That's a promise." And with that Lucas walked off to class.

The rest of the day went by quickly and after school Lucas and Peyton headed to the gym. Lucas was going for basketball try outs and Peyton went to watch.

"Hey Mouth." Lucas said as he walked up to the sign up table. Mouth volunteered to help with the sign-up sheets and what not.

"You're signing up?" Mouth asked.

"Yeah, trying something new." Lucas said as he signed his name on the sheet. "Where do I go now?"

"Oh, uh, Whitey's in his office, he said to send any new players in there. So, I guess that means you." Mouth said. Lucas walked into Coach Whitey's office. There were about thirty other guys in there, so Lucas knew it would be a long shot if he made it on the team. He sat through a lecture and then they were sent back out to do some drills to see who could follow. Lucas made all the shots and really impressed the rest of the guys. While he was doing that, Peyton was sitting on the bleachers watching, and occasionally watching the cheerleading practice that was happening simultaneously.

"Okay girls, lets try a pyramid." Head cheerleader Brooke Davis announced as she tried to get the girls to do anything remotely right. "No, no, no, you're doing this all wrong!" She screeched, as Peyton laughed at the seriousness she had. Brooke was always Miss Popularity, head cheerleader, dated all the hot guys, spent most of her time at parties or spending her father's money. Not exactly Peyton's type of person.

"And what are you laughing at? Brooke said, seeing Peyton laughing.

"Oh, nothing." Peyton said.

"Yeah. I'd like to see you try to do this." Brooke said with her infamous attitude.

"Its not rocket science." Peyton said.

"Yeah, well if your so smart, why don't you try it." Brooke challenged.

"Fine." Peyton said as she stood up and went over to where the cheerleaders were.

"Okay, lets see you try this." Brooke said, as she did a small dance routine for Peyton to copy. And that's exactly what Peyton did, and quite perfectly.

"Not bad actually." Brooke said, impressed with Peyton's abilities.

"I told you its not rocket science." Peyton said as she made her way back to her spot in the bleachers.

"Hey! Wait up." Brooke yelled as she followed Peyton.

"What?"

"Why don't you try out for the team? I mean, you're pretty good, and I could use a cheerleader with at least half a brain. What's your name again? Patty … Penny … Paige?"

"Its Peyton. And I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not exactly cheerleading material."

"Well, you got me there, but miracles happen. Come on, please?"

"I don't know. I don't really fit into you're whole preppy cheery world."

"Come on, there's a game next week and I could really use another cheerleader."

"I'll think about it." Peyton said as she walked away, only to see Nathan walk in.

"Hey Nate" Peyton said as she saw him.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Waiting for Lucas. What about you?"

"Basketball tryouts. I was on the team at my old school, and my father was a basketball prodigy so he thinks I am too."

"Oh." Peyton said, knowing this could turn ugly. Lucas and Nathan on the same basketball team, yes, that could definitely get ugly. Peyton thought as Nathan walked over to the sign up table and walked over to join the rest of the team. The rest of the tryouts went by quickly, the coach dismissed them saying that the roster would be posted tomorrow in the quad.

"Hey." Lucas said as he walked over to Peyton.

"Hey, how'd tryouts go?"

"Good, I hope. And of course, Nathan had to try out too, god help me if we both get on the team."

"Lucas, come on, you said you'd give him a chance."

"Yeah I know, I just don't like the fact that he's butting in on everything in my life."

"Yeah, and uh, good news, sort of. I don't have to tutor Nathan anymore, they found someone else."

"At least something good came out of today."

"Yeah, so what are we doing for the rest of the day?"

"I don't kno-"

"Scott!" Coach Whitey yelled from his office.

"Yeah?"

"I want to talk to you." He said as Lucas excused himself from Peyton and went into his office.

"Have a seat." Lucas did as he was told. "You're pretty good kid. Why haven't tried out before?"

"I don't know, I was never one for teams and such I guess."

"Well, I'm glad you did now, because you have a lot of potential. You're a natural."

"Thanks."

"So is you're brother."

"Half Brother" Lucas corrected.

"I don't care what he is, he's good and having you two on my team would help out a lot. We haven't won a game in quite a while, and I think you and Nathan could change that."

"So I made the team?"

"Yeah, you did. Don't look so shocked, you're good."

"Thanks."

"Okay, well I expect to see you tomorrow for practice."

"Sure thing Coach." Lucas said as he got up to leave.

"What was that all about?" Peyton said as Lucas walked toward her.

"I made the team."

"What?! Oh my god Luke that's great!" Peyton said as she ran toward him and jumped up and hugged him.

"Thanks Peyt."

"Nathan did too."

"That's good. Yeah, get this, Brooke Davis wants me to join the cheerleaders." Peyton said causing Lucas to laugh.

"You? A cheerleader?" Lucas said, still laughing.

"Knock it off. She said I'm good and she offered me a spot."

"Are you going to take it?"

"I don't know. I mean, I'm not really the cheerleading type."

"You're not lying." Lucas said, still laughing a bit.

"Okay, laugh it up. Go ahead." Peyton said, getting annoyed.

"I'm sorry, I just cant picture you as a cheerleader."

"You know what? Just to prove you wrong. I'm going to join the team." Peyton said as she walked off to Brooke to tell her.

"I'll do it." Peyton said as she reached Brooke.

"Great, you won't regret it Peggy."

"Peyton." Peyton corrected.

"Whatever. Uhm, practice is tomorrow right after school." Brooke informed her.

"You didn't have to prove anything to me Peyton." Lucas said as he walked toward her.

"Its not just about you."

"So, you're a cheerleader now?"

"And you're on varsity."

"My how times have changed."

"You got that right. So, Café and then the video store?"

"As usual." And with that they left the gym on to the Café. They still couldn't believe they were on organized teams, things were definitely going to change now. Peyton Sawyer the cheerleader and Lucas Scott the basketball superstar.

The next day flew by and before she knew it, it was time for Peyton's date with Nathan. She just finished getting ready and she was now waiting for Nathan to pick her up. She heard a knock at the door and ran down the stairs to answer it.

"Hey." She said as she opened the door.

"Hey. You look nice." Nathan said.

"Thanks."

"Okay, well, I figured we could go to the movie first and then go for pizza or something afterwards."

"Sounds good to me."

"Okay, well then, shall we?" Nathan asked as he held out his arm for Peyton to take. She took it and the two headed to the car.

The rest of the night came and went. The two went to the movies, where Nathan was the perfect gentleman, holding doors, and what not. Then they headed to the pizzeria and now they were on their way back to Peyton's house. When they arrived, Nathan got out first and opened the door for Peyton and walked her to her door.

"I had a great time tonight Nathan."

"Yeah, me too."

"Alright, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Peyton said, and just as she was about to open her door, Nathan leaned down and kissed her.

"Goodnight Peyton." Nathan said as he walked to his car. Peyton stood there on her porch thinking about what had just happened, touching a hand to her lips where Nathan had just kissed her. After a few moments, she walked inside and shut the door, smiling contently to herself.

Morning came by rather quickly and Peyton was already up and ready for school when Lucas arrived to pick her up.

"What are you so happy about today?" Lucas asked as he and Peyton walked to their lockers.

"Hm? Oh, nothing." Peyton said, still smiling.

"That's not nothing, that's something. What happened last night?"

"Well… Nathan … he- uhm.."

"What?"

"He kissed me." Peyton blurted out.

"He what?!"

"Oh don't be so shocked, you knew we were going out last night."

"Yeah, but I didn't expect to hear that!" Lucas said.

"Come on Luke, you said you were cool with this. I really like him, and he likes me."

"Ugh. Okay, okay. I give up, obviously you're not giving up on this. But just be careful. Please?"

"I'm a big girl Luke, I can handle this."

"Its not you I'm worried about."

"You worry too much Lucas."

"I'm just trying to look out for my best friend."

"I know you are, and I love you for it, but sometimes you just have to step back."

"Okay, I'll back off, but if he hurts you, I hurt him."

"Got it. Now lets get to class before we get detention."

"Good idea."

"Hey Peyton!" Nathan called as he saw Peyton at her locker.

"Hey." Peyton said as Nathan kissed her. "Uh, Nathan we can't do this here."

"Why not?"

"Good point." Peyton said noticing nobody was around. Nathan smiled and kissed her again.

"So what are you doing tonight?"

"Oh probably watching movies with Luke, but you can come if you want, I mean you live there." Peyton said laughing.

"Okay."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What exactly are we? I mean are we like … boyfriend and girlfriend or…"

"If you want to be, then yeah."

"Okay."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Great. Well, I gotta go, see you later?"

"Yeah." Peyton said as he kissed her again. Peyton Sawyer had a boyfriend. Well, that's new.

"Hey." Peyton said as she found Lucas sitting on a bench in the quad. "I was looking for you."

"Oh, basketball practice went a little late today." Lucas said. "Don't you have cheerleading practice?"

"Oh god, I completely forgot."

"Nice, first day on the job and you forget."

"Sorry, gotta go Luke. Meet you at your place for movies later?"

"Sure."

"Sorry I'm late." Peyton said as she entered the gym, to see a not so happy Brooke Davis.

"You're only twenty minutes late, no biggie." Brooke said, trying to keep her cool.

And with that, Peyton started stretching and Brooke showed her some new moves which Peyton quickly learned and the rest of practice went rather well.

"Great job, girls. See you tomorrow." Brooke said as practice ended. "Hey, Penny!"

"Its Peyton." Peyton said.

"Right. Whatever. Look, I gave you a chance on the squad because I think you have serious potential, but if you're not going to take this seriously, then I can remove you as quickly as I added you."

"No, its just that I had stuff to do and it slipped my mind. But I am taking this seriously, it wont happen again."

"Well, good. I can totally see us being friends."

"You and me?"

"Yeah, I mean, you have a brain, which is a plus, you're dating a total fox, you're best friend is also hot, and you have good hair."

"How did you know I'm dating Nathan?"

"The whole school knows. It doesn't go unnoticed when someone starts dating the hottest guy on campus."

"Hottest guy? He just got here like a week ago."

"Yeah well, popularity travels fast. I always thought you and Lucas were dating."

"Lucas?!"

"Well yeah, I mean you spend all you're time with him."

"We're just friends, nothing more."

"So he's available?"

"As far as I'm concerned yeah, he is."

"Yay."

"You like Lucas?"

"Well, he's hot, and he's on varsity. That's really all I need to know."

"I don't know, I mean Lucas has never really been the dating type."

"Well, I can definitely change that."

"Okay…"

"What are you doing now?"

"Now? Nothing really, I was going to head over to Lucas'"

"Want to hang out? We could shop, spend some more of my dad's money."

"Uh…"

"Oh come on, it'll be fun."

"Okay, sure."

And with that Peyton and Brooke headed to the mall to do some damage. Yeah, Lucas was right, things were changing. Peyton was a cheerleader, hanging out with none other than queen bee Brooke Davis and she was dating Nathan Scott, hottest guy in school.s


	7. Chapter 7

After cheerleading practice, Brooke and Peyton headed to the mall to do some damage on Brooke's dad's credit card. They walked around buying whatever they could find, talking, laughing and bonding. Who would have thought Peyton Sawyer would be hanging out with Brooke Davis?

"So, do you do this everyday?" Peyton asked Brooke, referring the serious shopping they were doing, as she and Brooke sat down in the food court.

"Pretty much, I mean, my family's loaded and my parents are never home, they're usually out at some big party getting drunk."

"So they leave you, home, alone, with their money."

"Well, yeah."

"You don't seem to care about that too much."

"Well, I guess me and my parents never really get along, and they really aren't home much, so I've learned to deal with it, I stay out most nights til whenever, and they're always too busy to realize it."

"You don't get lonely?"

"Nah, I have my friends and my dog, I'm good." Brooke said. "What about you? You're parents around?"

"My mom died a few years ago and my dad works over seas, so I really don't see him much, he checks in every few days, but I haven't seen him in weeks."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know.. about your mom."

"Oh, nah, its okay." Peyton said, brushing it off.

"You know, you're a pretty cool person, why haven't I hung out with you before?" Brooke said.

"I don't know, I guess I was never really part of the big popular crowd."

"Well I don't see why, you're hot."

"No I'm not."

"Oh please, you so are. You're tall, thin, you have great hair and you're eyes are to die for."

"Really?"

"Yep. Brooke Davis doesn't lie."

"You know, you're pretty cool too." Peyton said laughing.

"I know." Brooke replied, simply. "So what do you want to do now?"

"I don't know, what time is it?"

"Um, around seven."

"Seven?! Oh my god, I was supposed to meet Lucas at the video store. I'm sorry Brooke, I have to go." Peyton said frantically.

"Okay, hang on I'll drive you."

"Thanks." Peyton said as she and Brooke left the mall and headed to the video store.

When they arrived, she didn't see Lucas so she asked Brooke to drive her over to his house.

"The lights are on, so he's probably home. Thanks again Brooke."

"Sure, I had fun today Peyton."

"Hey you got my name right." Peyton said causing Brooke to laugh.

"Well, I should go before Lucas kills me."

"Hey, uh, there's a party tomorrow night at Bevin's beach house. Want to come?"

"Uhm, yeah sounds like fun, I guess."

"Great, bring you're boyfriend and your hottie best friend too."

"Okay, thanks Brooke, see you tomorrow" Peyton said as she got out of the car and walked to Lucas' door and opened it.

"Lucas?"

"He's in his room Peyton." Keith called from the kitchen.

"Thanks Keith, havn't seen you in a while."

"Oh yeah, I've been working late, how are you?"

"I'm good, is … uh, Lucas in a good mood or is he pissed at me?"

"So-so, he slammed the door on his way in."

"Oh boy. Okay, thanks Keith."

"No problem."

Peyton braced herself for what Lucas was going to do before knocking on his door. He didn't answer, so she opened it to find him sprawled out on his bed staring at the ceiling.

"Luke?"

"You remembered where I live, shocking." Lucas said not looking at her.

"Lucas, I'm sorry. I was at the mall with Brooke and-"

"Brooke? As in Brooke Davis?" Lucas said finally looking up at Peyton.

"Yeah."

"Why the hell were you there with her?" Lucas asked.

"She invited me."

"Well, that's … new."

"Yeah I know, bizarre or what?" Peyton said. "Luke, I'm so sorry, we just lost track of time."

"You know, ever since you became Nathan's 'girlfriend' and miss cheerleader, you've kind of forgotten about me."

"I know, and again, I'm sorry, its just been a weird week, I mean, in just a few days things have changed so much."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Lucas commented.

"Forgive me?"

"Yeah, I can never stay mad at you."

"Thanks Luke." Peyton said, going over to hug him.

"So, as if things couldn't get weirder, Brooke invited us to a party at Bevin's beach house."

"Bevin? Is that Brooke's blonde flunky?"

"Yep, that's her."

"And she invited me?"

"Yeah, she thinks you're hot."

"Really? Oh my." Lucas said, in mock shock, pretending to be all flustered.

"Shut up, she said it herself."

"And to think just a few days ago, we were outcasts. Now we're superstars." Lucas said, causing Peyton to laugh.

"Well, that also means Nathan's coming too."

"Yeah, I figured." Lucas said. "But, I considered what you said, and I'm going to try to give him a chance."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Aw Luke, thank you." Peyton said hugging him again.

"The things I do for you."

"Well just think, if things don't work out, he's moving out next week isn't he?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Okay, so we're going to this thing?"

"Yeah we are."

"New territory, you sure we can handle it? I mean Nathan's used to being big man on campus."

"I'm sure we'll be fine."

"Okay, so what movie did you get?"

"Well, since you weren't there, I decided to make you pay."

"Oh god, please tell me its not what I think it is."

"Oh yeah, Final Destination, one, two and three, just in case we get bored."

"You have a severe obsession with those movies."

"Oh, you know you love them."

"There's only so many times I can watch people get killed in freak accidents."

"You love it."

"Whatever dude. Just put the movie in and shut up."

"Okay." And with that Peyton and Lucas got comfy on his bed and watched the Final Destination trilogy.

The next day flew by and it was time for the party. Peyton spent the day with Lucas but went home to get ready and Lucas told her he and Nathan would pick her up at 7.

"Peyton!" Lucas called as he and Nathan walked up her stairs.

"Yeah, hold on a sec." Peyton called from her bathroom.

"Okay."

"Is she always this late?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, she's never been a very punctual person."

"I heard that." Peyton said as she walked out of her bathroom wearing a spaghetti strap dress, that brilliantly accentuated her features.

"Wow." Nathan said. Lucas didn't say anything, but he was thinking it too. "You look amazing."

"Thanks." Peyton blushed. "So, lets get the show on the road." Peyton said as she walked out of her room and headed for the car with both boys in tow.

They pulled up to the house to see tons of cars, expensive ones, accompanied by a whole bunch of drunk teens.

"This is the beach house, I wonder what her actual house looks like, its like the frikin' White House." Peyton commented as she noticed the enormous size of the house.

"This is about the size of my old house in Charlotte." Nathan said as Peyton and Lucas stared at him. "What? My dad likes space."

"I'm sure he does." Lucas commented.

"Okay, lets do this." Peyton said as she got out of the car. "Coming guys?" And with that the trio headed for the party. They entered and found Brooke there, already half drunk, dancing in the middle of a crowd. Peyton and Nathan went to the kitchen for a drink and Lucas went to see if he knew anyone else there, and just when he was about to give up, he found Haley.

"Hey Haley!" Lucas yelled over the music.

"Hey Lucas." Haley said.

"I was beginning to think I was going to be alone tonight, thank god you're here."

"Yeah, I've been standing here for the whole party, getting bumped into and knocked over. Yeah, its fun."

"Sounds like it." Lucas said laughing.

"Lucas!" Brooke said as she ran over to him.

"Brooke." Lucas stated.

"Yeah, I'm going to go… away." Haley said as she walked away before Lucas could say a word.

"So what's up with you Broody?"

"Broody, that's a nice nickname."

"Oh yeah, well, you do seem to brood a lot."

"Maybe."

"So, I've been hanging out with you're buddy Peyton and she says you're available, so I was thinking maybe you and me could …you know, get to know each other a little more, if you catch my drift."

"She said I was available?"

"Well, she said you and her weren't dating or anything and I know you aren't dating tutor girl, so I assumed-"

"No, I am, its just- nevermind."

"Okay, well what do you say? Want to get a drink and talk outside?"

"Sure." Lucas accepted. _Am I really talking to Brooke Davis? What is happening to me?_ He thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Nathan and Peyton were in the kitchen talking with a group of people. Peyton excused herself to use the bathroom and Nathan followed her and waited outside the door. When she emerged, Nathan kissed her and softly pushed her up against the wall.

"Hi." Nathan said as he pulled away.

"Hi." Peyton replied, smiling.

"So, uh want to continue this upstairs?"

"Uh, I don't know…"

"Oh come on, its not like we'll be missed out here."

"Okay." Peyton said as Nathan led her to an empty bedroom upstairs.

When Nathan and Peyton arrived at their destination, they were about thirty seconds into a heavy make out session. Peyton walked backwards until the back of her knees hit the mattress and Nathan pushed her down onto the bed. Before they knew it, hands started roaming and Nathan attempted to un-zipper her dress.

"Nathan-" Peyton muttered in between kisses. "Nathan , stop-" she said as she tried to stop him, but he didn't listen, he continued to try to un-zip her dress. He then moved his lips to her neck, trying to distract her.

"Nathan!" Peyton said as she finally managed to push him off. "I told you to stop."

"What's your problem?" Nathan asked, clearly pissed off.

"I don't want to take things that far yet Nathan, I'm just not ready."

"So you're telling me you're a virgin?"

"So what if I am?"

"Oh come on, you cant dress like you do and still be a virgin."

"Dress like I do? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing ."

"No it had to mean something Nathan, so go ahead say it."

"Why are you being such a bitch Peyton?"

"Nice to know you think of me that way. And to think I thought you were a good guy. I guess Lucas was right about you."

"Peyton, I'm sor-"

"No, you know what? Save it." Peyton said as she exited the room, leaving Nathan standing there.

Peyton ran down the stairs with tears in her eyes, she ran out of the house and bumped right into Lucas who was involved in a serious lip lock with Brooke Davis.

"Whoa, Peyt are you okay?" Lucas said as he held her by her shoulders.

"Um, no not really." Peyton said, tears streaming down her face.

"What happened?" Lucas asked, with concern as he tried to calm her down by rubbing his hands up and down her arms.

"Uh, Nathan and I were upstairs and we were…. And he wouldn't stop and-"

"I'll kill him." Lucas said through clenched teeth. He called Brooke over to stay with Peyton while he went upstairs to have a little talk with his dear brother.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" Lucas yelled as he barged into the room Nathan was in.

"I didn't do anything, she was the one who led me on and then stopped half way through."

"I don't think so, I think you forced yourself on her, because I know Peyton and Peyton would not do that." Lucas said, angrily.

"Whatever, go ahead believe what you want, doesn't change the fact you're friend's a bitch."

"You son of a bitch." Lucas said as he lunged forward and punched Nathan square in the jaw. Before they knew it, they were rolling on the floor, fighting, punching, kicking and cursing each other. Before things got too out of hand a random guy came in and broke it up.

"You stay the hell away from Peyton; I mean it because next time, nobody will be there to stop me." Lucas threatened as he walked out of the room to go find Peyton.

"Come on Peyton, I'll take you home." Lucas said, as Peyton nodded. They excused themselves from the party and got in the car to drive home.

"You okay?" Lucas said, breaking the silence in the car. Peyton only nodded. "Did he hurt you?" Peyton shook her head. "Peyton you gotta talk to me."

"You were right." Peyton said, Lucas gave her a confused look. "About Nathan. He really is an ass. You were right." She elaborated.

"I'm sorry Peyton."

"Its not your fault. If its anyone's fault, its mine. I mean, I'm the one that was all 'give him a chance'"

"I'm still sorry."

"Thanks Lucas."

"Come on, I'll walk you inside."

"Okay." Peyton said as she and Lucas headed inside her house. They were in her house for not even five minutes and there was already a knock at the door.

"Its probably him." Lucas said as he looked over at Peyton who was sitting on the couch while Lucas made some hot chocolate in the kitchen. Peyton nodded and Lucas went to open the door.

"Where is she?" Nathan asked as he tried to enter the house.

"She doesn't want to see you right now Nathan."

"Well, she can tell me that herself. Peyton!"

"Look, I'm not saying it again, why don't you leave now before it gets ugly." Lucas said as Peyton appeared behind him, touching his arm.

"Its okay Luke, I'll talk to him."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'll wait in here." Lucas said , glaring at Nathan, as he kissed Peyton's forehead gently and walked into the kitchen.

"What do you want Nathan?" Peyton asked once they were outside.

"I'm sorry."

"You said that already."

"I mean it Peyton. I shouldn't have acted the way I did, and I'm sorry."

"Damn right you shouldn't have."

"Please, just … forgive me?"

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm sorry, and I really like you Peyton, you know I do."

"Fine, but if its happens agai-"

"It won't, I swear." Nathan said, reassuringly.

"Okay."

"Okay?" Nathan asked, as Peyton nodded. "Thank you, Peyton. Call you tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Peyton said.

"Okay, Bye Peyton." Nathan said, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek. Peyton watched him walk away before going back into the house.

"What happened?" Lucas asked when he saw Peyton come back inside.

"He said he was sorry and I forgave him."

"You sure that was the right thing to do?"

"He seemed sincere enough, so yeah, for now at least." Peyton said.

"Just be careful Peyton, don't let the guy treat you like a door mat." Lucas said as Peyton nodded."Okay, well I should go, let you get some sleep."

"Could you stay a while? Please?"

"Yeah, of course." Lucas said as they both headed upstairs.

"I'll sleep on the floor."

"Luke, we've slept in the same bed before, no big deal. That floor will kill you."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Peyton said as she pulled back the blankets and got into bed, Lucas repeated her actions soon after.

"Thank you Lucas." Peyton said after a moment of silence

"For what?"

"For rescuing me tonight. You're really a great friend."

"I'll always save you."

"Nite Luke."

"Goodnight Peyton." And with that, the two teens drifted off to sleep.

* * *

AN: Okay, hey guys, I noticed, while writing and after a few of you pointed it out that there were some continuity issues with the days of the week and what-not and that annoys me, but its too much work to go back and re-work my whole story to fix the days of the week, so I'm going to leave it as is and I promise in my future chapters, it'll be correct. The reason for it was because i planned on writing more filler chapters, but I decided to skip it and head straight for the drama because I really have nothing to write but fluff for fillers and its annoying.

Also, I know some of you are getting annoyed with the lack of LP, but as you can and will see Lucas and Peyton are both starting to realize something about their feelings toward each other. And with the rate I'm writing LP will happen sooner than I expected, so bear with me. I have the next chapters written and I'm going to post them day by day so the story doesnt end so quickly and I'm still trying to figure out where to go next. Okay, I'm going to shut up now :)

And I would like to thank all of you for reviewing, it means a lot. Now go press that pretty purple button and review!


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning Peyton awoke to the sound of an alarm clock, loud and annoying. Not opening her eyes, she threw her arm back with the intent of hitting the snooze button, but instead her arm collided with Lucas' face eliciting a groan.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry Lucas." Peyton said turning around, realizing that she wasn't alone. "Are you okay?" Peyton said checking to see if he was bleeding.

"Yeah, its okay, my head already hurt like hell." Lucas said sitting up and rubbing his head where Peyton had just hit him.

"Sorry, I forgot you were here."

"Well, if that's how you usually hit your alarm, I feel bad for it." Lucas joked. "You sleep okay?"

"Yeah, thanks for staying Luke."

"No problem. Uh, today is Saturday right?"

"Yeah."

"Thank god." Lucas said as he fell back onto the bed. "Because I am so not in the mood for school right now. My head is killing me."

"I said I was sorry!"

"Not because of you dummy, because of the amount of alcohol I consumed last night."

"And you drove me home." Peyton said "Nothing like a heads up Luke."

"I wasn't drunk, its just now hitting me like a ton of bricks."

"Uhuh."

"Whatever dude, its like seven in the morning, what the hell was your alarm doing on anyway?"

"I forgot to shut it." Peyton mumbled as she laid back down on the bed and closed her eyes. "I need sleep."

"Yeah me too, we could fit in another hour or two." Lucas said.

"Sounds like heaven."

"Uhuh." And with that mumbled syllable, the two teens went back to sleep.

Well, those two hours flew by and Lucas and Peyton had gotten up, showered and were now at the café having breakfast.

"So, what are we doing today?" Lucas asked as he and Peyton sat at the counter eating.

"Uh, actually Nathan called earlier and he said he wanted to hang today, but why don't we rent movies and all hang at your house? We could invite Haley and Brooke, make it a group thing."

"Yeah sure."

"You don't sound thrilled, is Lucas feeling left out?" Peyton asked.

"No, its just … I don't want us to change because we have girlfriends or boyfriends or whatever."

"We won't Luke, I promise, that's why I'm doing this, so we both get to hang out with our significant other, plus Haley, and we can still be together."

"Okay."

"Great, I'll call Haley and see if she wants to come." Peyton said as she walked outside to call Haley.

"Guess I'll call Brooke." Lucas said as he picked up his phone and dialed Brooke's number.

"Hey Brooke, its Lucas."

_"Oh hey Broody, what's up?"_

"Nothing much, you?"

_"Same here."_

"Well, listen, I invited some friends over to my house for a movie night, do you want to come?"

_"Tonight?"_

"Yeah, probably around seven."

_"Yeah, sure sounds like fun. Who else is going?"_

"Me, Peyton, Nathan and Haley."

"_Haley? __She the tutor?"_

"Yeah that's her."

_"Cool, yeah I'll be there hot stuff, see you tonight."_

"Bye Brooke." Lucas hung up the phone, smiling.

"What are you smiling at?" Peyton asked as she came in from calling Haley.

"Brooke's coming tonight."

"Great, so is Haley. I couldn't get a hold of Nath- "

"Speak of the devil." Lucas commented as Nathan walked through the door.

"Hey Nate." Peyton said as he walked over and kissed her.

"Hey. What's going on?"

"Nothing, just having breakfast with Lucas."

"Oh. Uh, mind if I join you?"

"Not at all." Peyton said as they sat down. "I'm going over to Luke's today to watch movies with Brooke and Haley, wanna come?"

"I thought we were going to hang out today, I mean after what happened-"

"Its water under the bridge Nathan, and yeah we will hang out today, over at Luke's, well its your place too, so…"

"Okay, sure, nothing better to do." Nathan said. "Uh, I have something for you in my car, wanna come with me to get it?"

"Okay…" Peyton said. "Be right back Luke."

"Okay." Lucas replied, not even wanting to think about what was going to happen out there.

"What'd you have to give-" Peyton barely got a sentence in before Nathan pulled her behind his car and started kissing her. "Nathan!" Peyton said giggling.

"I've been waiting to do that since I saw you."

"Well, I'm flattered, but we so cannot do this here."

"Why not?"

"I'm not a big fan of PDA." Peyton said, while Nathan kissed her again.

"Fine, I'll kiss you later." Nathan said as Peyton pulled him back to the café.

"Okay Luke, we're going to head to the mall and we'll meet you back at you're house around seven?" Peyton said as she and Nathan walked through the door.

"Yeah sure. See you later."

"Bye." Peyton said going over to hug him, Lucas swore for a second he saw a look of jealousy on Nathan's face. And with that, Peyton and Nathan left the café, hand in hand. To his surprise, Lucas was felt a little jealous. _What is going on with me?_ He thought.

Later that night, Peyton and Nathan had gotten back from the mall and god knows whatever else they were doing and were in a major lip lock when Lucas walked through the door. Lucas found it odd that they were making out in public after what happened at the party the other night, but he brushed it off.

"Uh, hey Lucas." Peyton said, standing up.

"Yea yea, try and hide it, I'm not blind Peyton." Lucas said.

"Sorry." Peyton said, blushing. "Well, Haley called she said she'd be here in a few minutes and Brooke is also on her way."

"Okay, my mom said she'd bring us food later."

"Okay, what movies did you get?"

"Dude, Where's my car? And Mr. Deeds."

"Dude, you are so my best friend! I love you so much right now." Peyton said jumping up and hugging him.

"I know." There it was again, that look of jealousy he was getting from Nathan. _Why did hugging her feel so different now? I couldn't possibly like Peyton …could I? No, Lucas, you do not like __Peyton,__ she's your best friend, nothing more. _ He thought to himself.

"Ah Brooke's here, and so is Haley." Peyton said as she pulled away from Lucas and ran to the door. "Hey guys." She said as Brooke and Haley walked in.

"Hey everyone." Haley said as she waved, Brooke did the same.

"Hey broody." Brooke said going over to Lucas, giving him a quick peck.

"Hey cheery." Lucas said causing Brooke to laugh at her nickname.

After everyone got settled on the couch, Peyton put the DVD in and they enjoyed the comic stylings of Adam Sandler in Mr. Deeds. Peyton was cuddled next to Nathan, occasionally kissing him and Brooke was practically sitting on top of Lucas, while Haley sat in between the two couples, feeling like a serious fifth wheel.

"I'm going to get some water, anybody want anything?" Lucas asked as he got up.

"Yeah I'll take water." Peyton said.

"Why don't I help you?" Haley suggested as she and Lucas headed for the kitchen.

"So still living in denial?" Haley asked, while getting glasses for the water, not looking at Lucas.

"Will you stop?!" Lucas said. "I thought I made it perfectly clear that I am NOT into Peyton, she's my best friend, she has been forever and she always will be, nothing more."

"Keep telling yourself that, buddy. But, I saw the way you were looking at her and Nathan, you turned green every time they kissed, jealousy is not a good color on you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Deny it all you want Luke, but sooner or later, you're going to realize how you feel and lets just hope its sooner rather than later, and its not too late."

And with those words, Haley left the kitchen, leaving Lucas to think about what she just said. Not wanting to think about it right then, Lucas pushed the thoughts to the back of his head, told himself he was into Brooke and she was his girlfriend and went back into the living room.

"Thanks Luke." Peyton said as Lucas handed her the water.

"No problem."

"Hey Broody, can I talk to for a sec, in the kitchen." Brooke said heading to the kitchen.

"Uh, okay." Lucas said, following her.

No sooner did Lucas get in the kitchen was Brooke pushing him against the counter attacking his lips.

"Whoa." Lucas said as he pulled back.

"You can say that again, did anyone ever tell you you're an amazing kisser?"

"Can't say that they have."

"Well, take it from somebody that knows one when she sees one, you are." Brooke said before she kissed him again, this time more gently. "Ya know, I've been in the same school with you since freshman year, why haven't we done this before?"

"Because you thought I was a loser."

"Well, clearly I was mistaken."

"Clearly." Lucas joked, kissing her again. "Mm, we should probably go back inside."

"Yeah, we should…" Brooke said, kissing Lucas again.

"Yeah I don't care what they say when they get back in here, those two are so not talking in there." Nathan commented.

"Duh." Haley said.

"Could they be anymore obvious." Peyton said. "Hey Lucas, Brooke, you coming back in here anytime soon?" Peyton was beginning to get annoyed. _Wait why the hell am I getting pissed off, Lucas could do whatever he wanted, whoever he wanted …am I jealous? No way, I couldn't be. No, Peyton, stop thinking that. _ She thought. Was she jealous of Brooke?

"Sorry, we were- uhm-"

"Save it, we know what you were doing." Nathan said, causing both Lucas and Brooke to blush.

"Lets just watch the movie."

And that's exactly what they did, the five teenagers finished watching the movies and later on, they talked and laughed. After Haley and Brooke left, Nathan, Peyton and Lucas cleaned up.

"Well, everything's clean, I should get going." Peyton said, yawning.

"I'll walk you home." Nathan offered.

"Thanks Nate." Peyton said. "See you tomorrow, Luke." Peyton said, hugging him. And damn it, there it was again, for the third time that night Lucas got that feeling and the look of jealousy coming from Nathan. God what the hell was going on? Lucas thought.

"Night Peyton and Nathan."

"Be back in a few." Nathan said as he led Peyton out of the house and walked her home.

"This day couldn't end quickly enough." Lucas mumbled to himself.


	9. Chapter 9

I reposted this chapter because after going to preview it I realized there werent any spaces to seperate the parts to avoid confusion, so sorry about that, those of you who read it must have been really confused. So I spaced it out to make it more readable. Enjoy and dont forget to hit the pretty purple review button when you're done.

* * *

The next three weeks flew by for the residents of Tree Hill. Dan had arrived in Tree Hill, which meant Nathan moved out of Lucas' house and into his own. Karen wasn't happy about having to see Dan, but to her surprise he wasn't as ass-like as she had remembered. Nathan and Peyton were on again, they spent a lot of time together, but Peyton still didn't seem to be enjoying the relationship.

Lucas, on the other hand, had started dating none other than Brooke Davis. It seems that after the party at Bevin's Brooke had taken a serious interest in Lucas and vice versa. A lot of things were changing, Lucas was becoming quite the basketball superstar, as was Nathan. And surprisingly enough, Nathan and Lucas were getting along, even more so, they were having actual conversations.

So, Lucas and Peyton were other wise occupied for the time being, meaning they really hadn't hung out like they used to since the night of the party. They would spend some time together, he still picked her up for school every morning and they walked to class together and occasionally hung out at Lucas'.

Lucas walked into Peyton's house to pick her up for school and found that she was still sleeping.

"Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer!" Lucas called as he saw her, still in bed, sound asleep. "Peyton wake up!"

"Ugh, five more minutes." Peyton muttered as she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

"No, no more minutes Peyton, come on we're going to be late." Lucas said as he shook her gently.

"Fine, I'm up, I'm up." Peyton said as she threw the covers off and went to the bathroom, mumbling something about hating Lucas for waking her up. And ten minutes later she was ready for school and the two headed for the car.

"Tell me again why I'm friends with you?" Peyton asked jokingly.

"Because I'm your best friend and you love me." Lucas said simply.

"Well, I shouldn't considering you never let me sleep."

"Oh suck it up Sawyer."

"No, I won't suck it up, Scott." Peyton said mockingly.

"You had to get up sooner or later, you had to go to school, which thanks to me, you get a ride every morning."

"I don't need you to get me to school."

"Oh yeah, you'd rather walk to school everyday?"

"I could drive."

"Not with a suspended license you won't."

"Okay, yeah that suspension is bogus."

"Oh yeah, you have unpaid parking tickets leaking out of every corner, not to mention the speeding tickets, and you are a reckless driver, last time I was in a car with you I swore I wasn't going to live to see the next day."

"Okay, okay I get it."

"Uhuh."

"Fine, you win, happy now?"

"Yes I am."

"I miss this."

"What?" Lucas asked.

"This. Us. Talking and joking around like we used to, before all this stuff happened."

"We still talk and joke, just … not as much."

"Well, from the way Nathan's been acting lately you can bet you'll be seeing me a lot more often."

"What'd he do now?"

"Oh same old crap, different day."

"Why do you bother with him?"

"Because he's really nice most of the time, its just ever since Dan got back he's been… different."

"I noticed, I mean, he rides him pretty hard with the whole basketball thing."

"Yeah." Peyton said. "Well, at least you two are getting along now."

"I have no choice. You and my mom threatened me, remember?"

"Yeah, but you guys were talking and stuff."

"Only because we're on the same team and we have to work together in order to win, or Whitey will beat the shit out of us."

"Good point. Well, what about you and Brooke? You two have been spending a lot of time together lately."

"Yeah, she's a lot of fun, I mean its not an epic romance or anything, but I have a good time when I'm with her and-"

"If the next words out of your mouth are 'she's a good kisser' I'm going to puke."

"That's not what I was going to say, but now that I think of it-"

"Okay, enough of that please." Peyton said, pretending to be sick. "Wait … have you two… you know-"

"No, but we've done just about everything else."

"Okay and again, too much information."

"Oh come on, like you and Nathan haven't."

"Well, we have… but we haven't gone too far."

"Neither have Brooke and I."

"Surprising, because Brooke's known to be … friendly."

"Okay, you know, she's really not like that, at least not with me."

"She's slept with half the male student body, Luke. That you can't deny."

"Well, she's not the bitch everyone thinks she is."

"I know, I hang out with her occasionally, plus she's the cheer captain, so I have to be nice."

"Yeah, how's that going for you?"

"Great surprisingly, its fun."

"Good for you. And to think we were a couple of social outcasts a month ago."

"Yeah, now we're in the 'it' crowd." Peyton said jokingly as she and Lucas got out of the car and headed for school.

* * *

"Hey Peyton!" Nathan yelled as he saw Peyton walking down the hall.

"Hey." Peyton said as she turned around. "What's up?"

"Nothing, I can't say hi to my girlfriend?"

"Oh, I'm your girlfriend now?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I recall a few days ago, you referring to as some girl to one of your friends."

"Oh come on Peyton, I was talking to one of the guys, it's a guy thing."

"Yeah, well I wasn't aware that a 'guy thing' translated into acting like an ass."

"Peyton, don't be like this, please."

"Like what? Like for once I'm actually standing up for myself and not letting you treat me like a doormat?"

"Stop being so dramatic."

"Dramatic? You think this is dramatic?"

"Yeah, I say hello and you turn it into this big argument over me not treating you right."

"Forget it, you know what, I'm not even going to waste my breath with you right now."

"Why are you acting like this?"

"You want to know why? Because I'm sick of being a convenience to you Nathan, and my friend, who actually cares about me, helped me realize that."

"So that's what this is about."

"What?"

"Lucas. Whenever you talk to him you go off on me later."

"This is not about Lucas. But somehow you always turn it around and try to blame Lucas. You jealous?"

"Of Lucas? Yeah right." Nathan said, getting defensive. RING. _Saved by the bell, _thought Peyton.

"I have to get to class." Peyton said and quickly stormed off down the hall.

"Unbelievable." Nathan sighed as he walked to class.

* * *

"Hey boyfriend." Brooke said as she appeared behind Lucas at his locker.

"Hey." Lucas said turning to face her. Brooke leaned up and kissed him.

"What're you up to?"

"Nothing, I was just going to find Peyton actually. Her and Nathan were fighting before and I wanted to see if she was okay."

"I'm sure she is, come on lets go catch up on our … extracurricular activities." Brooke said, winking.

"Could you wait like ten minutes while I find Peyton, she looked upset." Lucas said as Brooke huffed.

"Yeah, fine, go off and leave you're girlfriend."

"Brooke its not like that, you know she's my best friend."

"Sometimes I wonder."

"Okay, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Its just that … ever since we got together you've been trying to spend more time with Peyton."

"Okay, Peyton and I haven't hung out like we used to in quite a while because we've been spending more time with our significant others, so how does that statement make sense?"

"Oh come on Luke, whenever we're together you make some excuse to try to go see Peyton."

"Yeah and then I decide not to and stay with you."

"Yeah, buts it's the fact that you're trying."

"Okay, why are you trying to sabotage this?"

"I'm not trying to, I just want to be sure that you're in this relationship with me."

"I am." Lucas assured her.

"Okay." Brooke said, not sounding convinced.

"Look, there's Peyton, I'm just going to go check and see if she's okay and then I'll be back okay?"

"Yeah, fine." Brooke said as Lucas kissed her and walked toward Peyton.

* * *

"Hey Peyton." Lucas said as he reached the bench she was sitting on.

"Hey."

"I heard about the fight you had with Nathan, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay, he's actually meeting me here to 'talk'"

"Oh, okay, I just thought I'd check on you, see if you needed anything."

"Nah, I'm good … for now at least."

"Okay, well I'm going to go, with Brooke, you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, go, have fun."

"Okay, see you later?"

"Sure."

* * *

"Hey Peyton." Nathan said as he walked up to her.

"Hey. Listen, about before, I'm sorry for blowing up at you like that."

"Its okay, I was out of line."

"So, we're good?"

"Completely."

"Okay, you want to-"

"Listen, the guys asked me if I wanted to hang, so I'll catch up with you later?"

"Uhm… yeah, sure." Peyton said, faking a smile.

"Okay, bye." Nathan said as he quickly kissed her on the cheek and headed to where the guys were.

"Why do I do this to myself?" Peyton asked herself.

* * *

What was left of the day passed by slowly for Peyton, she spent the rest of the day at home, enjoying her own company since Nathan was out doing god knows what, or who. She mentally kicked herself for forgiving him, she told herself she wouldn't do it again, but damn those Scott genes, she just couldn't do it.

Lucas spent a few hours with Brooke, participating in various … extracurricular activities, mainly making out in Brooke's room. After that, Lucas headed home, but not before Brooke informed him of a party at one of the cheerleader's houses after the game next week, Peyton and Nathan were going, so they planned on car-pooling.

The next week passed by, Lucas and Peyton really didn't spend a lot of time together. Peyton spent most of her time tagging along with Nathan and his "crew", mostly jocks who were assholes, but Peyton wanted to spend time with her boyfriend, and Nathan seemed to want to hang out with her too, he would just rather hang out with the rest of the team too. Of course they spent their nights together, not going any further then a few make out sessions of course because Peyton wasn't exactly ready to do that just yet. Lucas spent most of his time with Brooke, hanging out wherever, doing whatever. They were having fun, and Lucas really liked Brooke. He did spend some time with Peyton, but his relationship with Brooke and her relationship with Nathan was keeping them apart.

* * *

Game Day. A wonderful day in Tree Hill High. The day came and went and now it was game time. Lucas and Nathan were on fire tonight, and the cheerleaders were cheering their asses off for the team. The Ravens won by eight, which meant the party would double as a victory party. Peyton and Nathan were once again arguing, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Brooke and Lucas weren't exactly on lover's lane either, they were fighting over some petty nonsense. So, needless to say, the ride to the party was nothing if not tense. Lucas and Peyton were sitting in the front, silently, while Nathan and Brooke were chatting it up in the backseat.

They arrived at the party and got out of the car, neither one of them saying a word. Peyton and Lucas spent their time with Haley and Brooke and Nathan mingled with the rest of the crowd, getting drunk as usual. Peyton couldn't care less, because this was the most fun she'd had in a while.

"So how are things with you are Brooke?" Haley asked Lucas.

"Not good right now ,she's ignoring me."

"That sucks."

"Yeah, but I saw it coming, Brooke isn't exactly known for lasting relationships."

"So you're okay with this?"

"Not completely, but I'm not completely devastated either, like I said, it isn't exactly an epic romance."

"So it was just sex?" Haley bluntly asked.

"Pretty much."

"Well, at least you knew it was."

"Yeah…" Lucas said, staring into space, then he turned to look at Peyton who had been standing silently.

"Peyt you okay?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm good."

"No you're not."

"Okay, I'm not."

"What's up?" Lucas asked, concern filling his voice.

"This whole Nathan thing. I mean one minute he's the nicest guy, next he's a total ass. I don't get it."

"Did you talk to him?" Haley asked.

"I tried, but he just dodged the question."

"You should talk to him and make him listen, if not, threaten him, that always works." Haley joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I need a drink." Peyton said as she excused herself to find the keg.

"Just let her go, Luke." Haley said, sensing Lucas was going to go after her. "So whats new in Lucas land?"

"Okay, where did that come from?"

"What? I cant ask you how you are?"

"You can, it was just kinda random of you."

"Ah, well I am random sometimes. Seriously, how are you?"

"I'm okay, Hales, what about you?"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah."

"I see you and Brooke have gotten really close."

"Yeah she's a lot of fun and I really like her."

"Good for you Luke. How about things between you and Peyton?"

"We haven't really hung out much lately."

"Are you okay with that?"

"Honestly, no I'm not, but I guess it was bound to happen, we start dating and drift apart …but she's still my best friend and I care about her."

"You care about her, you sure that's all?"

"What?"

"You'll figure out what I mean eventually."

"Okay…"

"How are things with her and Nathan?"

"I don't know, she really hasn't talked to me about it, but she doesn't seem happy and I don't know about that guy, he just doesn't seem sincere enough."

"Uhuh, well Peyton's a big girl she'll be okay."

"Yeah I guess, I'm just worried about her." Lucas said as Haley nodded.

"Oh and guess who I've been asked to tutor."

"Who?"

"Nathan."

"Are you going to do it?"

"I don't have a choice, I mean, I'm a tutor and I'm not tutoring anyone at the moment, so they asked me."

"Okay, well … be careful."

"Yeah, I know, I'll be back in a bit." Haley said as she walked away, leaving Lucas to wonder about what she meant before.

Meanwhile, Peyton who had been sitting by the keg, getting as drunk as possible, decided she had had enough and wanted somewhere quiet to lay down. So she headed upstairs to see if she could find an empty room. She knocked on the door and no one answered so she opened it and nothing could have prepared her for the site she saw.

* * *

AN: Whoa, cliff hanger, I had to include at least one of those lol ..cuz what's a good story without a cliff hanger?

I also want to thank all you guys again for all the reviews, they are what motivate me to write more. Now, I know I tend to update quickly, but they may be a bit slower now because I ran out of pre-written chapters and still have to work out the rest, and I know that I skipped a lot with the little summary paragraphs, with time jumps and such, but thats just because I decided to skip the small stuff, and I really don't know where to go with it so I'm jumping right into the drama and hopefully a lot more LP. So, thanks for reading, and I promise in the next few chapters there will be some major LP stuff and of course some drama with a side of fluff.


	10. Chapter 10

Nathan, her boyfriend, in bed with another girl. She opened the door all the way, startling Nathan, who was half naked. And when Peyton saw who the girl was, she was even more furious.

Before Nathan could say or do anything to explain, Peyton took off down the stairs. Lucas saw her running and ran after her.

"Peyton-" Nathan yelled, but it fell on deaf ears.

"Peyton what happened?" Lucas asked, this situation was reminiscent of the experience they had at the last party, Lucas thought.

"Oh nothing, I just caught Nathan in bed with another girl." Peyton said as the tears that had been threatening to fall since she opened that door started streaming down her face.

"That son of a bitch." Lucas said, getting ready to go after him.

"No Luke, don't okay? Just leave it alone."

"Peyton you can't just let him get awa-"

"Please Luke, can you just take me home?"

"Okay." Lucas said seeing that Peyton wasn't in the condition to deal with this.

So he and Peyton left the party and headed for Lucas' house, since Peyton realized she had forgotten her purse at the party which contained her keys, and she wasn't about to go back and get it. When they got to his house, they got out of the car and went into his room, neither saying a word. Peyton plopped down on the bed and Lucas sat on the edge of it.

"Are you okay?" Lucas asked, receiving a glare from Peyton. "Okay, stupid question."

"Um, Luke, I have something to tell you."

"Shoot."

"You're not going to like it." Peyton said as she sat up on the bed so she was next to Lucas.

"What is it Peyton?"

"Th-the girl Nathan was with …"

"What about her?"

"It was…"

"Come on Peyton, you're scaring me."

"It was Brooke." Peyton said, looking up trying to read Lucas' expression. "Lucas? Say something."

"You know, I should be shocked, but I'm not. I'm angry, but something told me that this would happen sooner or later."

"I'm sorry Luke." Peyton said sincerely.

"God how did our lives get so fucked up?"

"Its called high school."

"Yeah, but the first two years weren't so bad."

"Things change."

"I never realized how true that statement was." Lucas said looking at the floor.

* * *

There was a knock at the door, they both figured it would be either Nathan or Brooke so Peyton decided to answer it.

"I thought you'd be here." Nathan said.

"What do you want Nathan?" Peyton asked, anger evident in her voice.

"I'm sorry." Nathan said, knowing it was stupid.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it this time Nathan."

"Come on Peyton, I was drunk and Brooke was there-"

"I don't care! Why or how it happened, the fact is that it did happen, you were about to sleep with another girl, who coincidentally happens to be my friend, not to mention, Lucas' girlfriend. It happened, and you didn't do anything to stop it."

"Peyton-"

"No, save it Nathan." Peyton spat. "I'm done with this, I'm sick and tired of us fighting and making up and then not even five minutes later, you're off to meet the guys or off to a party or hooking up with another girl. I'm done, and so are we."

"You don't mean that."

"That's another thing I'm sick of, you thinking you can just tell me what I mean or what I'm thinking. Its over Nathan, you can go back to Brooke now, and you can tell her that any chance she ever had with Lucas, is also gone." And with that, Peyton slammed the door in Nathan's face and walked back into Lucas' room.

* * *

"How'd it go?" Lucas asked, standing near his bed.

"I ended it, and I told him to tell Brooke you guys were done too."

"Thanks, you okay?" Lucas asked, as Peyton shook her head and started to cry. "Come here." Lucas opened his arms and Peyton walked over and fell into them, he kissed her forehead. They just stood there for a few moment, Peyton crying, her tears soaking his t-shirt and Lucas rubbing her back soothingly whispering calm reassuring words in her ear. "I'm such a girl." Peyton muttered into his shirt causing Lucas to laugh.

"Thanks Luke." Peyton said as she pulled away slightly, looking up at him.

"For what?"

"For always being here when I need you, I mean I know we haven't really hung out like we used to since Nathan and Brooke."

"I told you I'd always be here if you needed me." Lucas assured her as she nodded.

"Well, now that we don't have any boyfriends or girlfriends to deal with, we can go back to normal."

"Sounds like a plan." Lucas agreed, nodding.

"What do you say we go back to when it was 'us against the world?" Peyton suggested, holding out her fist for Lucas to bump.

"You read my mind Sawyer." Lucas said as he bumped his fist with hers.

"So, got any good movies?" Peyton asked.

"There's always Final Destination."

"Yeah, things are definitely normal again." Peyton joked. "Fine, but only if I get to pick the next movie."

"Deal, just no chick flicks."

"Dude, since when have I ever been a chick flick person?"

"Good point."

The two spent the rest of the night in Lucas' room watching movies and talking. Yes, all was normal again in the world of Peyton and Lucas.

* * *

AN: Okay, yeah most of you knew where I was going with my little cliff hanger, it was kinda obvious lol ...so there it is, all couples are broken up ... for now at least. I know you all are anxious for some LP action, I promise its coming. I'm working on the next chapter right now, so it should be up by tomorrow, maybe later tonight. 


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Thanks guys for all the reviews and don't worry, this story is far from over. But, uh, I think you'll enjoy this chapter. ; )

* * *

The next few days were great for Lucas and Peyton. After the drama of boyfriends and girlfriends was over things finally started getting normal between the two of them. They hung out almost everyday and avoided Nathan and Brooke at all costs, which proved difficult considering Peyton was still on the cheer squad and Lucas was still on the basketball team.

"Yo Luke, Peyton!" Skills called as he stood at the River Court seeing Lucas and Peyton approach. "I was beginning to think you forgot about us with your popularity and all."

"Nah, I was able to fit you into my oh so busy schedule." Lucas joked as he bumped fists with him.

"Hey Skills." Peyton greeted.

"I heard about what happened, you guys okay?" Skills asked, referring to the drama that was Brooke and Nathan.

"Yeah, I think we're better off without them." Peyton admitted.

"Hey I'm not complaining either, I was getting bored without the two of you." Skills said.

"Aw, I'm touched." Peyton said, mockingly putting her hand over her heart.

Skills laughed "How about a game?"

"Sure." Lucas agreed dropping his stuff and heading to the middle of the court.

"Yeah let's see those varsity skills." Skills said.

"Where's Mouth today?" Peyton asked, not seeing him on the bleachers.

"Uh, I think he had some stuff to do with the AV club." Skills informed her.

"Oh … guess I'm flying solo today." Peyton said, referring to that fact that her and Mouth normally hung out during the games.

"Or you could play." Skills suggested. He wasn't giving up his plan to get Peyton to play a game.

"Or I could stab out my eyes with freshly sharpened pencils." Peyton joked.

"Oh come one Peyt, you can be on Skills' team, god knows he needs someone to help him." Lucas joked.

"Not cool dawg." Skills said, pretending to be insulted.

"Sorry. Come on, please?" Lucas asked, giving Peyton the best puppy dog eyes he could muster.

"Ugh. Fine, one game." Peyton said rolling her eyes, finally giving in.

"HA! I told you I could get you to play one of these days." Skills said, victoriously.

"Yeah yeah."

"You do know how to play right?"

"No, I just watch basketball games every week, listen to you and Luke talk about it, and watch you guys play out here all the time." Peyton said sarcastically. "Its not rocket science."

"Hey guys, whats going on?" Haley asked, appearing behind Lucas.

"We were just going to play a game of 2 on 1, but to make it even, Haley you want to play?" Skills informed her.

"Yeah sure, I watch enough of these games to play."

"Great, you're on Lucas' team." Skills said.

"Ok, your ball Luke." Skills said checking the ball to Lucas.

"You're going down buddy." Peyton said as she walked in front of Lucas to try and block his shot.

"Oh really?" Lucas said as he jumped and shot a three pointer right over Peyton's head.

The game continued. Lucas showing off, and Skills and Peyton trying to block him, he passed the ball to Haley who attempted to get it in, but missed and Lucas caught the rebound. Peyton stole the ball from Lucas while he was trying to show off, dribbling it between his legs and such. She ran right up to the basket and made an awesome lay-up that even impressed Lucas.

"What? You didn't think I could do that did ya?" Peyton said seeing the shocked look on both boys faces.

"Not really." Lucas said.

"Well come on, lets move ladies." Peyton said throwing the ball to Skills.

Skills took a shot and made it while Lucas tried blocking Peyton from getting to the basket. Her back was toward him and he was pressed up against her trying to stop her from moving. She brushed up against him and Lucas couldn't help but get a little flustered, in the midst of all this, Peyton had moved around him and made the shot. The game was now tied and it was game point. Lucas had the ball and Skills was blocking him. Skills stole the ball and passed it to Peyton, who was standing behind Haley, she made a shot and it went in. She jumped up and screamed.

"HA! We SO beat you!" Peyton said, rubbing it in Lucas' face.

"Yea yea, don't get full of yourself, I let you win." Lucas stated.

"Yeah right dawg." Skills commented.

"Whatever."

"Oh come on nobody likes a sore loser." Peyton said to Lucas in a childlike voice.

"Okay, you beat me, I lost, I'm a loser, you happy now?"

"Very." Peyton said sweetly. "That was fun."

"Good game guys." Haley said.

* * *

"I need water." Lucas said as he walked over to the bleachers and took out his water bottle. Haley followed him.

"Nice cover up." Haley said, not looking at Lucas.

"Huh?"

"I saw you blush before."

"I did n-"

"Dude, don't even."

"Don't call me dude, and you're wrong."

"Lucas, when are you going to open your eyes?"

"My eyes are open, Haley."

"Apparently not enough, you are so into Peyton, you could have cut a knife in the sexual tension out there."

"Oh here we go again." Lucas said rolling his eyes.

"Its obvious."

"Its not obvious because there isn't an 'it' okay?"

"Whatever, as I said before, sooner or later you are going to realize it and when you do its going to be too late." Haley said as she walked away.

"Okay guys, I gotta head back to the café." Haley said gathering her stuff. "I had fun."

"Yeah I have to get to cheer practice." Peyton said.

"I could drive you, its on the way." Haley offered.

"Yeah thanks Hales. Bye guys." Peyton said getting her bag and following Haley to her car.

* * *

"What's up with you?" Skills asked Lucas.

"Nothing just something that Haley said."

"What'd she say?"

"She just has this crazy idea."

"What kind of crazy idea?"

"She thinks I'm into Peyton." Lucas admitted, well, almost blurted out.

"That aint that crazy dawg."

"Oh not you too?!" Lucas cried out.

"Well, I mean, you guys were always attached at the hip and you know everything about each other and its kinda inevitable that you'd be into each other."

"You think so?" _Could they be right? _Lucas thought.

"Yeah."

"So what if I am? What makes you so sure that she's even interested?"

"You'll never know unless you try." Skills said simply. "Look I gotta go, see you later?"

"Yeah sure." Lucas said as Skills left.

"Me and Peyton?" Lucas asked himself.

* * *

"Thanks for the ride Haley." Peyton said as she and Haley pulled up the school.

"No problem." Haley said. "Hey I'm sorry about you and Nathan."

"Yeah its okay, I didn't think it would last anyway." Peyton said. "You're tutoring him right?"

"Yeah."

"Did he say anything to you?"

"He just told me what happened and that's about it."

"Okay."

"How's Lucas doing with the whole Brooke saga?"

"He's been avoiding the subject, but he seems okay with it."

"I bet." Haley muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Come on Haley."

"It was nothing … you'll figure it out eventually." Haley said.

Peyton tilted her head to the side "I don't get it…" she asked, confused.

"You and Lucas are so blind sometimes I swear, you don't see what right in front of your face."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You two belong together." Haley said simply.

"WHAT?! Me and Lucas? What drugs are you on Haley?" Peyton yelled. "He's my best friend."

"Oh yeah, and you didn't blush when you brushed up against each other during the game today?"

"I don't know what your talking about." Peyton denied.

"You will. You should get to practice before Brooke the Nazi goes insane."

"See you later." Peyton said as she got out of the car and watched Haley drive off._ Has that girl completely lost her mind? Me and Lucas? That could never happen … could it? _Peyton thought.

* * *

"Oh look who decided to show up." Brooke said as she saw Peyton walk into the quad where the other cheerleaders were warming up.

"Sorry I'm late." Peyton said as she dropped her bag and sat down with the rest of the squad and began stretching.

"What? Too busy hooking up with my ex to remember you had practice today?" Brooke commented.

"Knock it off Brooke." Peyton warned.

"I'm just stating the facts." Brooke said smugly.

"There is no fact there, Brooke. Me and Lucas are friends, that it."

"Yeah sure." Brooke said, sarcastically, while all the cheerleaders drew their attention to the feuding girls.

"You know what? I think you're just jealous because Lucas would rather spend time with me then get back together with you."

"Me? Jealous of you? Keep dreaming."

"Oh come on Brooke, admit it." Peyton said standing up and stepping closer to Brooke. "You're just pissed off because you got caught."

"You shouldn't talk when you have no idea what your'e talking about." Brooke said staring Peyton in the eye while she walked even closer.

Standing about an inch away from Brooke's face Peyton spoke again "You never really wanted Lucas because you cared, you wanted him because he was just there."

"Back off, unless you want to get another nose job." Brooke spat.

"Face it Brooke, you're upset because Lucas was the one who broke up with you, he's the one boy you can't have and that is what pisses you off. Because you think you're the shit and every guy that's even remotely good looking is dying to be with you. Guess he proved you wrong." Peyton said in a low haunting tone.

"You are so off right now." Brooke denied, even though it was true. Lucas Scott is the one guy Brooke couldn't have and she was going to do everything in her power to change that.

"No, I think I'm right on track." Peyton said.

"Go to hell Peyton." Brooke spat.

"I will, save me a seat would ya?" Peyton spat back.

Brooke started to get even angrier, and Peyton had had enough.

"Whatever Brooke, you know I'm right and so do I. And by the way, none of those words were 'Yes Peyton, I do care about Lucas'." Peyton scoffed. "And to think I was actually starting to like you." Peyton said as she shook her head and retreated to her spot and began stretching again, leaving a furious Brooke alone.

* * *

Lucas left the River Court and headed off to basketball practice in the gym. Practice went by slowly, considering Nathan was ignoring Lucas and refused to pass him the ball, and vice versa.

"Okay, ladies that's enough practice for today!" Whitey yelled as practice came to an end. "Uh Scott!" he called. Nathan and Lucas both turned around to face him. "Both of you, in my office . NOW!" They did as they were told and followed Whitey into his office and sat down.

"What the hell was that out there?" Whitey yelled. "That was rhetorical." He remarked, seeing that Lucas was about to respond. "The object is the game is to win, not to see who can keep the ball away from the other players the longest."

"Coach-" Lucas began, but was cut off.

"Did I say you could speak?" Whitey snapped at Lucas. "Now, I know you two have some feud going on and quite frankly I don't give a damn about it, I want to win and you aren't helping me, so unless you want to get kicked off this team I suggest you start working together and stop being so damn selfish."

"Ok." Lucas and Nathan both muttered.

"Now, since I know you're not going to listen to me, I'm making you co-captains, so now you have no choice but to work together." Whitey informed the boys. "Now get the hell out of here, and get your acts together." Whitey said as the two boys walked out of his office.

"What is up with you man?" Lucas said.

"Nothing, other than the fact that my girlfriend dumped me."

"And you're taking it out on me?"

"Yeah well, you're part of the reason."

"Oh and the breakup had nothing to do with the fact you were screwing Brooke, aka my girlfriend." Lucas remarked, sarcastically.

"Whatever, I don't care anymore, its Peyton's loss."

"Yeah big loss." Lucas spat. "Look, we're co-captains which means we have to compromise, so can we just stop all this for the team's sake?"

"Yeah whatever." Nathan said as he walked out of the gym.

* * *

"Luke?" Peyton called as she entered Lucas' house. "Luke? You here?"

"He's not home from practice yet Peyton." Keith said as he appeared from the kitchen.

"Oh okay."

"You can wait for him, he'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay." Peyton said as she entered the kitchen.

"So how are you Peyton?" Keith asked.

"I'm good, how are you?"

"Fine. What are you and Luke up to today?"

"Eh we're probably going to stay here, watch a movie, pig out, the usual." Peyton said.

"Don't you ever do anything different?"

"Actually we're trying to stay away from different for now." Peyton said.

Then they heard a door slam, accompanied by footsteps.

"Lucas? What's your problem?" Keith asked seeing the pissed off expression on Lucas' face.

"Whitey lost his mind and made me and Nathan co-captains." Lucas said, not even seeing Peyton until she cleared her throat.

"Oh hey Peyton." Lucas said.

"Well, nice to see you too." Peyton said.

"Sorry ..I - um..." _What is wrong with you?_ Lucas thought to himself.

"Yeah, no problem. So what are you going to do with Nathan?"

"Well, I decided to take the high road and try to make it work because I don't want to lose my spot on the team and I don't give a damn about Nathan or how he feels about it." Lucas said.

"Good for you Luke. I would have kicked his ass." Peyton joked.

"Ok well I have to meet your mom at the café, seems there's a biscotti emergency." Keith said as he headed out the door.

"Bye Keith." Peyton said.

"Bye." Lucas said. "What are we doing tonight?"

"Food, movie, more food … and did I mention food?" Peyton said.

"Okay, what movie?"

"I'm sick of comedies, what about a horror movie?"

"You? Horror? You're afraid of your own shadow." Lucas said getting up and walking to where the movies were.

"Oh shut up, I'm not that scared." Peyton said getting off the stool and following him.

"Uhuh … the only scary movies I have are ... The Ring, Cry Wolf and House of Wax." Lucas said while he looked through the shelves.

"The Ring." Peyton said.

"Oh, aren't we in a daring mood. Okay, The Ring it is." Lucas said.

They went back to Lucas' room and laid on the bed. Peyton put the movie in and made sure she had a blanket she could hide under if she needed to. About a half hour passed before Lucas spoke up.

"You sure this movie wasn't just an excuse for you to cuddle up next to me?" Lucas said, referring to the fact that every time a scary part came on, she would bury her face in Lucas' shoulder.

"Dude shut up and watch the movie." Lucas did as he was told, and during the scariest part of the movie, he tapped Peyton on the shoulder causing her to jump ten feet in the air.

"Lucas!" Peyton yelled, while Lucas laughed histerically.

"Dude you should have seen you're face. Priceless." Lucas said as he continued laughing.

"You suck!" Peyton yelled as she hit Lucas in the face with a pillow.

"You did not just hit me with a pillow!" Lucas said, shocked.

"Yeah I did." Peyton said as she did it again.

"Oh its on now." Lucas said as he picked up a pillow and hit her with it. This went on for a while, the two of them dueling with pillow on Lucas' bed. Peyton was about to strike again but instead slipped off the bed causing Lucas to fall with her. The two cracked up as the lay there on the floor, Lucas on top of Peyton. The laughter stopped, but their position didn't change, they stared into each other's eyes before Lucas took the next step and planted his lips on Peyton's in a short, yet passionate kiss. He quickly pulled back realizing what he had just done. Peyton stared at him, confused.

"Why did you do that?" Peyton said just above a whisper.

"I'm not exactly sure." Lucas said, truthfully.

"I have to go." Peyton said, pushing Lucas off of her and standing up.

"Peyt-" Lucas said as he got up, but she was already out the door.

"What the hell just happened?" Lucas asked himself, staring at the door Peyton had just walked out of.


	12. Chapter 12

After leaving Lucas' house, Peyton practically ran home. The whole night that kiss plagued her thoughts. She thought about what would happen if she and Lucas actually got together but she decided that she valued their friendship more. In other words, she was going to avoid him like the plague until she couldn't anymore.

The next day, Lucas couldn't get what had had happened between him and Peyton off his mind. He kissed her, and she ran out the door. He didn't know exactly why he had done it, but it just felt right to him. He denied that he was into her to everyone, but after listening to them he started to believe there was something there. His friends were right, he was falling for Peyton Sawyer. The girl who had been his best friend since junior high. Well, she was right when she said things were going to be different this year and Lucas just hoped that different was a good thing.

He got a text message from Peyton saying that Haley was going to drive her to school and she added a pointless excuse, but he knew better. She was avoiding him.

Peyton called Haley early that morning and asked if she could pick her up for school, Haley agreed but when she asked Peyton why, she dodged the question. An hour later Haley was outside waiting for Peyton.

"Hey Haley, thanks for picking me up." Peyton said as she opened the car door and slid into the passenger seat.

"No problem." Haley said. "You want to tell me why? I mean doesn't Lucas normally pick you up?"

"Uh, yeah but he was … busy." Peyton said, hoping Haley would take the excuse.

"Bull." Haley boldly stated.

"Excuse me?" Peyton asked.

"That's bull and you know it, how could Lucas be busy at six in the morning?" Haley said. "Come on, what's the real reason?"

Peyton thought for a minute, trying to come up with another excuse but decided to come clean. "He kissed me." She blurted.

"WHAT?!" Haley squealed. "When? How?" Haley asked, rather quickly.

"We were in his room watching movies and we were joking around, having a pillow fight … and we fell on the floor and he kissed me."

"And?" Haley urged.

"And I ran out the door as fast I could."

"What? Why?"

"Because he kissed me!"

"We established that already Peyton."

"Haley, he's my best friend, he's practically my brother, I don't want anything to change that."

"Idiot!"

"Excuse me?"

"You're an idiot. You two are made for each other."

"No Haley, he's my friend and if anything comes between us, if we were to go through with this and we broke up, I wouldn't be able to go on without my best friend." Peyton said. "Can we just drop it?" Peyton said, seeing Haley was about to respond.

"Okay." Haley said, backing off.

Peyton and Haley pulled into the parking lot, and Peyton saw that Lucas' car was already there.

"You know, you're going to have to talk to him." Haley commented.

"Eventually yes, now no." Peyton said.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to take the next step. Its called Avoidance." Peyton said as she got out of the car.

"You can't avoid it forever." Haley said, repeating Peyton's actions.

"No but I can try." And with that Peyton and Haley walked into the school.

* * *

"Peyton!" Lucas called as he finally caught her at her locker. Peyton heard him, and immediately started to walk in the opposite direction. "Peyton! Hey Peyton! Wait!" Lucas called as he finally caught up to her.

"Yeah Luke?" Peyton sighed as she turned around to face him.

"So this is how it's going to be?"

"How what's going to be?" Peyton asked, playing dumb.

"You're avoiding me."

"I'm not avoiding you, I'm just busy." Peyton said, not looking him in the eye.

"Yeah right, and this sudden lack of time had nothing to do with what happened the other night."

"Look Lucas, what happened between us was a mistake" she said looking up for the first time." W-we got caught in the moment and it just happened."

"Is that what you really want it to be, a mistake?" Lucas asked, hurt evident in his eyes.

"Lucas-"

"No, I know, 'you're sorry', whatever Peyton, I gotta go." Lucas said storming off in the other direction.

"Nice going Peyton." Peyton said to herself while shaking her head and walking away.

* * *

AN: Yeah I know, I know, its short but I needed to seperate it perfectly because the original chapter 12 was too long, even I could read it, so I divided it into three parts but I'm not posting them all together, so you're going to have to wait ... torture, i know but its better when anticipated. Have patience dear readers. I know I sound like a total broken record, but I promise the next two updates will make it worth while. I hope. 


	13. Chapter 13

After Lucas' confronted Peyton and stormed off, he made his way to the place where he did his best brooding, The River Court. When he pulled up he saw Skills shooting around.

"Yo Luke." Skills greeted as he turned and saw Lucas walking up to him.

"Hey." Was Lucas' monosyllabic reply as he sat himself down on the bleachers.

"What's up with you?" Skills asked walking over and sitting down next to him, placing the basketball on the ground.

"Nothing." Lucas replied, with almost no emotion.

"Yeah right, what happened?" Skills asked not buying it.

Lucas sighed, giving in. "Remember the other day when I told you Haley thought I was into Peyton, and you agreed with her?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, after you left, I started thinking about what you said that Peyton and I were best friends and it was only a matter of time before we grew into something more."

"And…" Skills urged, growing impatient.

"And I started to believe it, I guess and later that night when me and Peyton were in my room watching movies, I … well I-"

"You what?"

"I kissed her." Lucas said.

"Nice." Skills complimented, patting his friend on the shoulder "Its about damn time. What happened after that?"

"She ran out the door." Lucas said.

"She what?" Skills' asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, apparently she doesn't feel the same way."

"So, you kiss Peyton and she runs away." Skills said.

"Yep. I guess you were wrong." Lucas said, sadness evident in his voice.

"Well, did you talk to her?"

"I tried, but she told me she didn't want to jeopardize our friendship and I blew up at her and stormed off."

"Nice work, playa." Skills said, shaking his head. "Look, its obvious to the rest of the world that you're into each other, she just needs some time to realize that."

"Yeah I don't think so."

"Are you listening to yourself right now?" Skills asked, earning a confused look from Lucas. "Peyton is into you, she just needs some time, and you have to be willing to wait for her and fight for her if you need to, she's your best friend, don't let her slip away like that."

"You're right. Thanks Skills."

"For what?" Skills asked, confused.

"For making me realize what I've been too stupid to realize on my own."

"No problem, just call me the match maker."

"Okay, Hitch." Lucas joked, causing Skills to laugh.

* * *

Lucas made his way to Peyton's house after a lot of thinking and considering. He was going to make her see what she's missing if it was the last thing he did. 

Peyton was sitting on her bed drawing, which was what she usually did whenever things didn't go her way. It was an escape to her, and that's exactly what she needed to do right now. And just when she thought things were looking up, she heard a soft knock at her front door. She went downstairs and opened the door.

"Hey." Lucas said as the door opened. "Can we talk?" he asked as Peyton stepped aside to let him in.

"Look, Lucas, I'm sorry about before, but I'm not really in the mood for this right now." Peyton said.

"This will only take a second." Lucas said. "Look, Peyton, I know you said you didn't want to jeopardize our friendship and I know that this is probably scaring you but you need to know that I would never do anything to ruin our friendship but-"

"Lucas please, can we not do this now, I told you before, out friendship means so much more to me than anything in this world and if anything were to happen betw-" Lucas cut Peyton off by crashing his lips onto hers.

When they pulled away Lucas was the one to break the silence. "Tell me you didn't feel anything? Tell me I'm wrong about this." Lucas asked, more like dared, looking straight into Peyton's eyes.

"Lucas-" Peyton said, looking down.

"Fine Peyton, have it your way. But know this. I'm falling for you Peyton, and its weird and corny and cliché but I feel like now when I look at you I'm seeing you for the first time and I love what I'm seeing. I love you Peyton, and I won't stop fighting for you." Lucas said as he backed away, not breaking eye contact and walked out the door, leaving Peyton standing there, alone.

* * *

AN: Okay, Don't kill me, I come in peace. Now I know you're all getting frustrated, and I myself am too with the time its taking to get to the LP stuff, believe me, its not easy writing this stuff lol. But as I said before I had to seperate the chapters in just the right way or it would lose the full effect, but you won't have to wait much longer I promise. And yeah this is a drama fic and I love drama so don't think by getting the LP that means no more drama and they're going to live happily ever after ... not yet anyway. So stay tuned, next chapter's going to be a biggie. 


	14. Chapter 14

Peyton had made her way into the cafe and saw Haley sitting at a table, grading some tutor assignments and decided to join her. What happened with Lucas, still never leaving her thoughts.

"Hey Hales." Peyton said placing her bag on the table and sitting down across from Haley.

"Hey." Haley said looking up at Peyton. "You talk to Lucas yet?"

"Uh, if by talk you mean deny and piss him off, then yeah I did."

"Oh god, what happened?" Haley asked, dropping her pen and giving her full attention to Peyton.

"After much successful avoiding, he found me and wanted to know why I was avoiding him, and I lied and told him I was busy but he saw right through it, and he asked me about the other night and I told him I didn't want to ruin our friendship and he got really upset and stormed off and the after that he came to my house and made another attempt."

"What is it going to take for you to realize you're meant for each other." Haley said, as a clap of thunder startled the two girls.

"Look's like a storm is coming." Peyton said, looking towards the window, avoiding Haley's question.

"Oh no you don't, no more avoiding." Haley said, clearly sick of all of this. "Now, I know I sound like a broken record, but Peyton, he deserves more than that ...he's your best friend--"

"Exactly Haley! He's my friend, I don't want anything to come between us and ruin that, I mean have you seen Dawson's Creek?" Peyton yelled.

"That's a stupid television show that means nothing Peyton." Haley said and sensing Peyton was about to respond, quickly continued. "Just hear me out okay?" Peyton nodded. "Freshman year, we were all the new kids, all the upperclassmen hated us, who was the one you ran to when the sophomore bitches were picking on you because of a few rumors started by the jackass jocks?" Haley asked, rhetorically. Peyton just stared at her. "And when your mom passed away in seventh grade, who went over to your house at four in the morning when you called him crying and made sure you were okay and stayed with you the entire night and the rest of the nights when you called? Who turned down a date and went to eighth grade formal with because you didn't have a date? Who drove you to school every morning? Who was there for you for the past five years and never once judged you, never once tried to make you into something you weren't and was always there whether you needed him or not?" She finished, this time expecting an answer from the blonde.

"Lucas." Peyton whispered.

"That's right, Lucas. The guy who would jump off a bridge for you, the guy who loves you and the guy you're going to lose if you don't open you're damn eyes and look at what's right in front of your face." Haley said, while another clap of thunder roared through followed by a streak of lightning. "And if you're still blind, I'll ask you one last question. All of you're dreams just came true and you're having the time of your life, you get to pick one person to have standing next to you. Who's the person Peyton?" Peyton looked up, finally realizing what Haley and everybody else was trying to get through her thick head.

"Haley-" Peyton began.

"Go!" Haley urged as she pointed toward the door. "Before its too late." And with that, Peyton ran out of the café to go find the guy she wanted next to her.

* * *

Thunder and Lighting poured throughout Tree Hill while Peyton ran to Lucas' house. He wasn't there, so she sat and thought about where Lucas would go if he were extremely pissed off. Then it dawned on her. The River Court. She ran as fast as she could to try to beat the storm and when she reached her destination, sure enough she saw none other than Lucas Scott sitting on the bleachers with his back turned toward her. She walked toward him, and he turned around.

"Thought I'd find you here." Peyton said, reaching him trying to hide the fact that she was out of breath from the running she just did.

"What do you want Peyton?" Lucas asked, not really in the mood for another heart breaking Sawyer speech.

"We need to talk." Peyton said.

"I think you said all you needed to say before Peyton and-"

"Could you just shut up and listen to me!" Peyton yelled, cutting Lucas off, earning from him a surprised look and a set of raised eyebrows. Just then, it started to rain.

"I did a lot of thinking today too, and yeah I didn't want to ruin our friendship by starting a relationship like this but that was before I had time to think." Peyton began, as Lucas looked at her with a surprised yet hopeful gaze. "The truth is I was scared."

"Scared of what Peyton?" Lucas asked, moving closer to her.

"Scared of commitment, scared of change, scared of you and how you make me feel. I made a mistake Lucas, when I told you I didn't want what you wanted, and I realized that tonight, with a little help from Haley. She asked me who I wanted next to me when all my dreams came true, and only one name flashed in my mind. It's you Luke." Peyton said as it started to rain harder. Lucas didn't have time to respond, Peyton ran up to him, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the passion she could muster.

When they pulled back Lucas was the one to speak. "You're sure about this? A lot's going to change." He asked.

"I'm positive, I'm done running away from this Lucas, this is what I want." Peyton said, and Lucas caressed her face softly and moved his hand up into her hair and leaned down to kiss her again and picked her up and spun her around while doing so, causing Peyton to giggle.

"We are both going to have a hell of a cold tomorrow." Lucas said smiling as he put her down and pulled away, referring to the fact that they were soaked from the rain. "We should probably get inside." He said as Peyton nodded. And with that the two headed for Peyton's house.

* * *

When they got to her house they ran to the house and burst through the door laughing and headed upstairs.

"I'll go get some towels." Peyton said as Lucas nodded and went inside her room. A few minutes later she was back. "Here." She said handing him a towel.

"Thanks." He said as he took the towel. "You're shaking." He observed, rubbing his hands up and down her arms.

"Its cold." She said while chuckling a bit. "Uh, some of you're clothes are still here, you can go change in my dad's room and I'll change in here." She suggested.

"Okay, be right back." He said, grabbing the bag of stuff he left here for emergencies and heading to her father's vacant room. She shut the door and couldn't help but smile as she leaned up against it. She quickly got changed and dried off and opened up the door and Lucas walked in.

"Hey." Peyton said as she walked up to him, placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him.

"Hey yourself." He said, kissing her back. They pulled away and she giggled, as she began to turn around, he pulled her back by the arm and kissed her again, this time with more passion. She threw her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss as he ran his tongue along the seam of her lips, begging for entrance, which she granted. They pulled away for a minute and stared into each other's eyes.

"This is good isn't it? Us." Peyton asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah it is." Lucas agreed, placing his hands around her waist, pulling her closer before kissing her again.

"Mm, did anyone ever tell you you're an amazing kisser?" Peyton teased.

"None that mattered." Lucas said as he kissed her again. They continued kissing as Lucas backed them up and before they knew it, they fell onto her bed. Tongues started dueling, fighting for control, neither of them giving up anytime soon. Lucas' hands traveled up her abdomen, eliciting a slight moan from Peyton. This continued for a few minutes before he left her mouth and traveled down to her neck, and then to her pulse point and just below her ear before Peyton pulled him back to her mouth. She flipped them over, using all the strength she could find and attacked his mouth . She then moved down and started sucking on his neck. His hands traveled up her back underneath her shirt, causing her to shiver under his touch. He started lifting up her shirt but she pulled away.

"Lucas as much as I want you right now, I don't want to rush things. I mean, I rushed things with Nathan and look how that turned out. I want us to last."

"I completely agree." Lucas said. "I guess I should get going." He said as he started to get up but was pulled back down.

"You should, but you're not going to. It's a mess outside, I mean I think it'd be safer if you just stayed here." Peyton teased.

"Safer. Right." Lucas agreed, smiling while Peyton yawned. "Tired?"

"Yeah, its been a long day." She replied.

"Well, why don't we get some sleep." Lucas suggested, scooting up to the top of her bed, opening his arms.

"Good idea." Peyton agreed, kissing him one last time before snuggling into his arms. "Goodnight Lucas."

"Nite Peyton." And with that, the two lovers fell asleep in each others arms.

* * *

AN: God I think I re-wrote this chapter four times and I think I'm okay with it now. And the wait is over ladies and gentlemen, LP is on, but for how long? maniacal laughter Now, this is it for the pre-written chapters so now I have to start writing new ones, and my week is really busy so there might not be an update until Friday, but hey, I gave you LP, now you can give me time lol. Hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. 


	15. Chapter 15

Peyton woke up early that morning to an empty bed. _Was it all a dream?_ She thought to herself, referring to what happened last night with Lucas. She looked around the room and her eyes landed on an all to familiar jacket and breathed a sigh of relief. _It wasn't a dream._

"Hey you." Lucas said re-entering the room with two coffees in hand.

"Hey yourself." Peyton replied as Lucas walked over and placed the cups on the side table and sat down next to Peyton on the bed.

"Sleep well?" Lucas asked, trying to create some sort of conversation.

"Wonderfully." She answered. "Am I going to get a proper greeting or am I going to have to do all the work myself." Peyton joked.

"Oh we wouldn't want that now would we." Lucas said leaning down to capture her lips with his.

"That's better." Peyton said as they pulled away. "Where'd you go this morning?" she asked.

"I went home to change and shower and stopped by the café to get coffee." He replied.

"Ah, thanks for the coffee, I need it." She said grabbing the cup off the nightstand and taking a sip.

"Yeah I know, if you don't get coffee in the morning you're like Linda Blair in the Exorcist." Lucas said earning a slap in the arm from Peyton.

"Shut up." She said.

"Sorry." He said, his lips curving into a smile.

"What are you smiling at?" Peyton asked playfully.

"You. I never realized how incredibly gorgeous you are." Lucas replied causing Peyton to blush.

"What happens now?" She asked after a moment of silence.

"What?" he asked.

"I mean, with us. Where do we go from here?" Peyton clarified. "Are we like …boyfriend and girlfriend now?"

"Do you want us to be?" Lucas asked.

"Only if you do… I mean-" Peyton said quickly, she was cut off by Lucas' lips descending onto hers. "I'll take that as a yes." She whispered as they pulled away.

"I do, believe me." Lucas said flashing Peyton that infamous 'Scott' smile.

"Okay then, glad that's settled." Peyton replied pulling Lucas in for another kiss.

"Mhm." Lucas muttered, gently pushing Peyton back onto the bed so that he was on top, his lips never once leaving hers. Her arms instinctively wrapped around his neck, deepening the kiss. She slowly parted her lips granting his tongue entrance. His hands roamed her body, ghosting over her abdomen and back up to her face, finally settling themselves in her curls.

"Now see, that's the way every morning should start." Peyton said breathlessly as they pulled away.

"I agree." Lucas said, equally as breathless.

"What time is it?" Peyton asked.

"Uh… a little after ten." Lucas said, checking his watch. "Why?" he muttered, his lips again finding her neck.

"Well, its Saturday and- Luke-" Peyton said pulling his head up so that it was level with hers " the record store got new albums in yesterday.", smiling up at Lucas.

"I guess we're going to the record store." Lucas said getting off of her and heading toward the door.

"Yay, thank you Lucas." Peyton said getting up and kissing him.

"Anything for you." Lucas said smiling walking out of her bedroom "This is going to be a good day." he said as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, it is." Peyton agreed, nodding and kissing him again, basking in the moment for a few seconds. "Now lets go." She said pulling him out the door.

* * *

Peyton and Lucas were walking towards the café hand in hand after their trip to the record store.

"Remind me to never go to a record store with you, ever again." Lucas said.

"You always say that." Peyton commented.

"Yeah but this time I mean it.

You are so god damn picky its scary." 

"Oh come on, that record clearly had a scratch on it!" Peyton exclaimed.

"Yeah but you didn't have to complain to the manager."

"Oh shut up, I was just trying to-"

"Yeah yeah, and what about the fact that we spent almost an hour in there and all you did was look at two albums, trying to decide which one you wanted to buy. I swear I thought you were going to start a Pro and Con list." Lucas said, earning a playful slap on the chest from Peyton.

"You agreed to come with me." Peyton said.

"Yeah and I will never do it again."

"But you love me." Peyton said, looking at Lucas with puppy dog eyes.

"You're a pain in the neck." Lucas teased.

"Yes, but I'm you're pain in the neck." Peyton said.

"That you are." Lucas said pulling her into him and kissing her forehead as they continued walking.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the wait and the shortness of the chapter, but these next few chapters are just LP fluff before I jump back into the drama, but since you guys are awesome with the reviews and having waited so long I figured I better give you as much fluff as possible. 


	16. Chapter 16

* * *

Before walking into the café, Peyton stopped causing Lucas to look at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Um … are you sure this is the right time for us to make our relationship public?" Peyton asked.

"Why shouldn't we?" Lucas asked, confused by her question.

"Well … I mean what if people start talking and staring?"

"So what if they do?"

"Lucas-"

"No, come on Peyton don't start shutting me out already. Please? Okay, so what if they stare? Does it really matter? Who cares as long as we're happy." Lucas said, more like declared.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah." Peyton said nodding "I'm sorry, I'm being stupid"

"Its okay, now come on." Lucas said extending his hand for her to take, and that's just what she did as they walked into the café.

"OH MY GOD!" Haley squealed, noticing their entwined hands and running over to where Lucas and Peyton were standing.

"Hey Hales." Lucas said.

"So… are you guys together now or are you just toying with my mind?" Haley asked.

"We're together." Peyton said, smiling and glancing at Lucas.

"Oh my god!" Haley said hugging Peyton. Peyton swore Haley was more excited then she was, she was jumping and screaming like she just won the lottery. "Took ya long enough!" Haley said playfully slapping Peyton on the arm. "Congrats you guys!" Haley said, walking off to take someone's order.

"Well… she's excited." Lucas said as he and Peyton sat down across from each other, at a booth in the corner.

"Yeah, you would think she just won the lottery or something." Peyton said causing Lucas to chuckle.

"What about you? Are you happy?" Lucas said taking Peyton's hand from across the table.

"I'm happy." Peyton said, smiling as she leaned in to kiss Lucas. No sooner did she break the kiss did she hear another squeal.

"Aw, aren't you two just the cutest thing!" That squeal belonged to none other than Haley James, who was standing by the counter across from their booth. She then walked over to them and sat down next to Peyton.

"Uh Lucas, could you give us a minute." Haley said.

"Sure." Lucas said, catching her drift. She wanted to chat with Peyton, more than likely about him. Lovely. He got up and walked towards the back of the café.

"Okay blondie, I want details!" Haley said causing Peyton to laugh. The two continued talking about the events of last night while Lucas headed toward the kitchen.

"Hey Lucas." Karen greeted her son as he entered the kitchen where she was filling some orders.

"Hey ma." Lucas said, sitting down on an empty stool.

"So, uh, were my eyes deceiving me or did I see you walk in here holding Peyton's hand." Karen said.

"No, you saw correctly." Lucas said, smiling.

"So you guys are …together now?" Karen asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, we are."

"Well, I'm happy for you, both of you."

"Thanks mom." Lucas said getting up to hug his mother.

"You're welcome." She said hugging him back.

"So what happened after that?" Haley asked.

"We went back to my house to dry off and then we were talking and then talking lead to kissing and-"

"Ok, too much information, but awww." Haley said, squealing again.

"Okay Haley could ya stop with the squealing already, its like nails on a blackboard."

"Sorry, I'm just so happy for you guys!" Haley said hugging Peyton again just as Lucas found his way back to the table.

"Am I interrupting?" He asked, unsure if their 'talk' was over.

"Nope, all done here." Haley said.

"Yeah, she got all the details she needed." Peyton said.

"I don't even want to know what you said." Lucas said.

"Yeah, you probably don't, okay well, I have people to serve, tables to clean. My life just gets more interesting by the moment." Haley said getting up and going back to work.

"She's hyper today." Lucas commented.

"Yeah, remember to tell your mom to keep an eye on her coffee intake."

"Noted." Lucas said. "So, what are we doing today?"

"And what makes you think _we_ are doing anything?" Peyton teased.

"Well I-"

"Relax Luke, I was kidding with you."

"Oh I knew that." Lucas said, covering for himself.

"Sure. Well, we could do the usual, movie night with added perks." Peyton said. Who knew she could be such a flirt. Lucas sure as hell didn't.

"And what kind of perks are we talking about here?" Lucas asked, playfully.

"Well, we can kiss, for one, and do other assorted activities."

"Really?" Lucas asked, in a husky whisper accompanied by that infamous Scott grin, flirting right back.

"Mhm." Peyton said smiling, leaning over the table to kiss him again.

"Well, shall we hit the video store?" Lucas asked standing up, holding out his hand for her to take.

"Yeah but make sure it's a movie we already saw." Peyton said getting up from the able and grabbing Lucas' hand.

"Why?" Lucas asked, confused.

"Did you honestly plan on watching the movie?" Peyton said.

"Got it. Boring movie." Lucas said leading Peyton out the door.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I haven't been home lately so I didn't have time to upload it. Plus my computer's being a bitch, so yeah... fun stuff. Okay, well, hope you enjoyed the chapter. And I apoligize to the people who wanted Naley in the story, but the way I have it designed in my head, Naley really would be out of place right now, but if and when I make a sequel there will be Naley, but Leyton is more my specialty, I didn't think I would do Naley any justice in this story. And loyal readers, don't worry, this story is far from over. 


	17. Chapter 17

Lucas and Peyton burst through the door of his room, in the middle of an extremely heated mini-make out session that had begun in the car. They walked to the video store, he picked out a movie and they decided to take a walk around the town and then take the long way home.

"Mm… what ... movie did ... you get?" Peyton muttered in between kisses as Lucas pushed her backwards until the back of her knees hit the mattress and they fell on top of it.

"Breakfast … Club." He muttered back, his lips never parting from hers fully.

"Classic choice." She said as she pulled away, struggling to catch her breath, Lucas doing the same.

"We've seen it a thousand times, I figured it was the perfect choice." He said, smiling, lowering his lips to her neck.

"Mhm. Uh Luke- maybe we shouldn't do this." Peyton said, finally gaining control over her breathing again.

"And why is that?" He said, looking up.

"You know how these things work ... it happens in like every movie, your mom is so going to walk in ..or Keith or someone." She replied.

"Anyone ever tell you that you think too much. Besides, she's at the café with Keith for another two hours, nobody's gonna walk in." He said as he moved his lips to her neck again.

Lucas continued his path down her neck, to her collarbone, back up to the sensitive spot just below her ear, which elicited a soft moan from Peyton. Lucas, smiling at her reaction, had a sort of 'Aha!' moment as he realized that that very spot was her weakness. Now he could torture her. Peyton moved her hands down his back, feeling the rippling of the muscles while his hands were roaming her body.

He broke away from her neck to capture her lips again, and she seized this opportunity to flip them over and straddle him, so she was now in control. She moved her hands up his chest as she broke away from the kiss and moved lower to his neck, a groan escaping his lips in response to her hips moving against his. She kissed a path down his chest and back up again moving to his lips and then back to his neck. His hands roamed her back, sliding up and down and in and out of her shirt. This went on for a few minutes, but Lucas had had enough and flipped them over again so he was lying on top of her, his arms holding his weight so he wouldn't crush her.

"You're so beautiful." He whispered as he kissed her, as she smiled and blushed. His tongue skimming along the seem of her lips, begging for entrance, which she granted. Tongues were now dueling for control. Hands were roaming, touching every inch of each other's bodies. Lucas' hands slid up the back of her shirt, causing her to arch into him and causing her to shiver beneath his touch. His hands inched down and hooked underneath the tank top she was wearing and began to take it off.

"Lucas I'm-" Karen said, opening the door to Lucas' room. Peyton shoved Lucas off of her and grabbed her shirt to cover herself up. The two teens staring at the woman like two deer caught in the headlights. "-home." She finished, shock evident on her face.

"Uh Mom-" Lucas said attempting to explain, or lie his way out, but that wasn't going to work.

"Kitchen. Now." Karen commanded as she glared and walked toward the kitchen.

"Uh, I should go." Peyton said as she finished putting her shirt back on.

"You too Peyton!" Karen yelled from the kitchen.

"So much for that idea." Peyton muttered to herself, as she got up from the bed, smacking Lucas along the way.

"Ow, what the hell was that for?"

"Perfect oppurtunity to say 'told ya so' ... you said she wouldn't be home for another few hours!" She whispered, but in a yelling sort of way.

"She was early. She's never early." Lucas said as Peyton rolled her eyes. "Lets go get this over with." He said walking out the room and into the kitchen where he found his mother sitting at the table. She pointed to the seats in front of her and the two teens obeyed her silent command and sat down.

"Okay, now I'm not going to ask you to explain what I just walked in on, because I'm pretty much well aware of what you were doing." Karen said.

"Mom-" Lucas tried, but Karen held up a hand to stop him.

"No talking until I'm finished."

"Now, both of you are young and I know you're like hormonal time bombs just waiting to explode." She started." Okay, wrong choice of words." She said noticing the expressions on their faces. "and I know you know all about the risks of teen sex, I mean there's pregnancy and-"

"We - haven't gone that far." Peyton said, trying to convince Karen that she wasn't a complete slut.

"Okay, but still, if I hadn't walked in, god knows what would have happened." Karen said, as the two just stared at the floor, embarrassed out of their minds. "And believe me, if you want to get advice, take it from someone who knows, okay I got pregnant at sixteen and its no picnic. So, I trust you two, I really do, and I trust that you two make the right decisions. I could scream and yell at you like any other mother would have done in the same situation, but I'm not going to because you're not going to listen to me anyway. Just be careful and think before you act. Please." Karen finished. "You can leave now." she said noticing that they weren't moving.

The two silently got up from the table, but their exit was nothing if not a quick one, they practically ran down the hall, and Lucas looked back at his mother giving her an appreciative nod. "Oh and no more sleepovers!" Karen yelled down the hall.

"Okay Ma." Lucas yelled.

"Oh my god." Peyton said as she plopped down on Lucas' bed. He followed and laid down next to her.

"Yeah." Lucas said staring at the ceiling.

"Well, at least she didn't scream and yell at us and tell us we can never see each other again." Peyton said turning on her side to face him.

"That's a plus." He said doing the same. "I'm sorry."

"Nah, its no biggie, sorry I flipped out." Peyton said as Lucas nodded. "Next time... we go to my house." She said, leaning in to kiss him. "I should get going."

"No." He said putting his arm around her, pulling her up against him.

"Luke, its late and I would even think of staying here after what just happened, as much as it pains me." Peyton said.

"But I don't want you to go." He said pulling her as close as possible, planting a big kiss on her cheek. "I love you." He said, brushing her cheek with his hand.

"I love you too." She said, leaning in to kiss him. "But I have to go." She said getting up and heading for the door.

"Okay, I guess I have no choice." Lucas said following her. "See you in the morning?"

"Of course. Nite Luke." Peyton said giving him a quick peck.

"Nite." He replied as she left the house. He went back to his bed, and plopped down on it, smiling from ear to ear. Peyton got home and did the same thing, also with a smile on her face. Yes, the two were truly happy. They couldn't help but wonder … How long will this feeling last?

* * *

AN: Okie dokie, more fluff. I couldn't resist writing the 'mom walks in during make out session' scenario. Its a classic. So, I hope your not getting bored with all the fluff, but its so much fun to write! And I know I kinda spoiled you readers with the frequent updates, but as I said, there are no more pre-written ones and I lost my post-its that i scribbled my ideas on, so I have to remember them. Next chapter should be up by tomorrow if not today. 


	18. Chapter 18

The next morning Lucas woke up early and headed over to Peyton's. He figured if he got there earlier, he could spend more time with Peyton… doing assorted activities. He drove over to Peyton's and entered her house, since she never locked it and went straight upstairs to her room. The first thing he noticed was the sound of her alarm going off and a sleeping Peyton lying in her bed haphazardly. Smiling, he shook his head to himself and went over to wake her up. _This girl could sleep through anything._ He thought to himself.

"Peyton." He said as he shook her gently. She grumbled something that he couldn't make out and rolled over. "Peyton." He said a bit louder this time, shaking her a bit harder.

"Mm … five more minutes." She mumbled, throwing the blanket over her head.

"Okay so much for the gentle approach." Lucas said, more or less to himself. "Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer!" He yelled as he opened her shades letting the sun shine through her room and land right on her face. "If you don't get up, I'm leaving." Lucas said.

"Ugh. Luke, you suck." Peyton said as she got up and headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"Thanks Peyt, love you too." Lucas said sarcastically as he walked over to her shelves and started flipping through her records.

"Okay, all done." Peyton said cheerily as she walked over to Lucas. "Morning." She said as she leaned up to kiss him. His arms automatically, almost unconsciously wrapped around her waist as hers went around his neck deepening the kiss.

"Wow." Lucas whispered as they pulled away.

"Yeah." Peyton said, as she giggled.

"You know, you are like …bipolar." Lucas said, receiving a confused look from Peyton. "First your furious with me for waking you up, and now your all happy." He clarified.

"You know I'm not in any way, shape or form a morning person." She said.

"You yelled at me." Lucas teased, faking a pout.

"Aww, poor baby." Peyton said as she kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry."

"Well, I supposed I could forgive you but I really don't-" Lucas started, but was cut off by Peyton's lips on his. "Okay, you're forgiven." Lucas said as they pulled away from yet another earth shattering kiss.

"Thought so." Peyton said smiling.

"We better get going." Lucas said checking the time.

"What's the rush?" Peyton said kissing him again.

"Mm.. as much as I would love to stay and do this all day, we really have to go." Lucas said as they pulled away.

"Okay, okay." Peyton said as she walked over to her chair and picked up her bag. "Let's go … boyfriend."

"I like the sound of that." Lucas said smiling as Peyton lead him out of the house.

* * *

"Ah another beautiful day in the hell dimension known as Tree Hill High." Peyton said un-enthusiastically as she stepped out of the car, causing Lucas to chuckle as he walked over to her side of the car.

"Oh its not that bad." Lucas said.

"Oh yeah, hmm lets recap shall we. Think back a few weeks. You were dating Brooke, I was dating Nathan, you and Nathan were fighting, we both broke up with our significant others after much drama leaving me on a cheerleading squad with the Bitch monster of death, aka Brooke Davis and you on a basketball team with Nathan as your co-captain."

"Point taken. But look, me and Nathan are getting along now, I mean we aren't best friends but we're working together for the sake of the team and Brooke will come around eventually."

"If you say so." Peyton said as they began walking toward the school.

"And who cares anyway, we have each other right?" Lucas said.

"Yeah." Peyton replied.

"Yo, Luke! Peyton!" Peyton and Lucas turned around to see Skills walking toward them.

"Hey Skills." Lucas said.

"So I hear you two are together now …that true?" Skills asked.

"Yeah it is." Peyton responded.

"Its about damn time." Skills said.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Peyton said causing the two boys to chuckle.

"Uh Luke, Whitey wants the team to head to his office before classes start." Skills said. Peyton's eyes scanned the quad, falling on a not so cheery looking Brooke Davis who sending them the death glare.

"Alright, uh I'll see you later." Lucas said to Peyton as he leaned down to kiss her, but she ducked out of the way causing his lips to hit her cheek.

"Yeah, later." Peyton said walking toward her locker.

"What the hell just happened?" He asked himself.

"Huh?" Skills asked.

"Nothing, lets go." He said as he and Skills headed toward Whitey's office. _Why wouldn't she kiss me?_ Lucas wondered to himself.

* * *

"Hey girlie." Haley said as she walked over to Peyton who was getting books out of her locker.

"Oh hey Haley." Peyton greeted.

"What's up?" Haley asked, seeing that something was bugging Peyton.

"Huh? Oh ..its nothing."

"Yeah right. Spill." Haley demanded as she and Peyton started walking the halls.

"Its … nevermind, its stupid." Peyton said.

"Oh come on, is it Lucas?" Haley asked. "What happened? You two were going great."

"Nothing happened … I mean-"

"Are you having second thoughts?" Haley asked.

"Kinda, but not really. Its just … weird, I guess. A short time ago he was my best friend and now he's my boyfriend. And today in the quad, I saw Brooke and she was staring at me and its just…" Peyton sighed looking down. " I don't know… And knowing my history with relationships, I guess I'm just worried that it may not work out."

"Do you love him?" Haley asked.

"What?" Peyton said, clearly caught off guard by the petite blonde's question.

"Do you love him?" Haley repeated with more emphasis.

"Of course I do but-"

"Then that's all you need to know. You love him, he loves you. That's all that matters." Haley stated simply.

"Yeah. You're right." Peyton agreed, nodding. _She's right, why do I care so much?_

"Anyone ever tell you you think too much?"

"Haha, yes actually." Peyton said.

"Come on, I'll walk you to class." Haley said smiling as she linked arms with Peyton and the two friends proceeded down the hall.

* * *

"Guess who?" Lucas asked as he walked up behind Peyton, who was at her locker, and covered her eyes with his hands.

"Uh, Brad Pitt?" Peyton teased.

"Close." Lucas said as she turned around.

"Oh its just you." Peyton joked.

"Oh that hurt." Lucas said as he put his hand over his chest, faking a hurt expression causing Peyton to giggle. He then leaned in to kiss her, but she pulled away again.

"Okay, what's going on? Do I have food in my teeth or bad breath or something?" Lucas asked.

"No, you smell really good actually."

"Okay, then what is it?"

"Its just … the whole PDA thing makes me kinda uncomfortable." Peyton said.

"Since when?" Lucas asked, a little shocked by her response.

"Its just, with Brooke here and Nathan its all just a little awkward."

"Peyton-"

"I have to go, cheer practice awaits." Peyton said as she walked down the hall.

* * *

"Hey Luke." Haley greeted after she witnessed the scene between him and Peyton.

"Hey." Lucas said, still staring down the hall Peyton just disappeared down.

"What, uh, was that all about?" Haley asked referring to what happened.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I mean one minute Peyton's fine and the next she's shutting herself off. I don't get it."

"I'm sure its nothing. You love each other, you'll work it out. Talk to her Luke.."

"I will and I hope your right." Lucas said.

"I'm Haley, I'm always right." Lucas laughed.

"Hey guys." Nathan said walking up to them.

"Uh… hey." Lucas said, a little confused by Nathan's actions. He had no idea why Nathan was being …nice at this moment, or why he was talking to them.

"Did you go over that play I was talking to you about? I showed it to Whitey and he said it could work." Nathan asked.

"Yeah I did, there's just a few minor adjustments that I made." Lucas said.

"Oh, well we have practice now, so we'll talk about them." Nathan said. "Hey Haley." He greeted noticing the blonde standing there.

"Hey." She said, blushing as she looked down and bit her lip.

"Okay Hales, I'll talk to you later." Lucas said as he and Nathan started to walk away.

"Bye."

* * *

Meanwhile, Peyton took her time getting to cheer practice which was out in the quad. When she arrived, she saw Brooke had already started practice even though it was a half hour early.

"Oh look who decided to join us." Brooke commented as she saw Peyton arrive.

"Practice doesn't start for another thirty minutes Brooke."

"Oh, did you not get the memo? We started at 3 today, so practice is over."

"Oh, how convenient." Peyton said.

"Okay girls, just a note, make sure you keep your boyfriend away from Peyton. She's infamous for boyfriend stealing."

"Okay Brooke, get it out of your system. Come on, hit me with your best shot." Peyton said walking up to Brooke. "And for the record, I did not steal Lucas from you, he dumped your skanky ass because of your actions."

"Whatever."

"Yeah, and another thing … Lucas and I are together now." Peyton said as a shocked expression overcame Brooke's features. She then began to walk away.

"Oh, screwing my leftovers are we?" Brooke said, redeeming herself. "That's rich." She yelled at Peyton's retreating form. Peyton flashed her her middle finger without turning around before she turned the corner.

* * *

While all that was happening, Nathan and Lucas were walking toward the gym.

"So, uh, how's Peyton?" Nathan asked.

"She's fine." Lucas answered, not really knowing where all this sincerity was coming from.

"So did I hear right? Are you two together?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah … yeah we are." Lucas said.

"Oh." Nathan said as the two continued the walk in silence. After a few feet, Nathan spoke again. "So, uh, what's Haley's story?"

_Ah, that's where this was going.__Haley._ Lucas thought. "Haley James?"

"Yeah, the tutor. She, uh, seeing anyone?"

"Not that I know of, but I really don't think she's your type."

"You said the same thing about Peyton." Nathan said, instantly regretting his choice of words. "Sorry."

"Well, I don't know, Haley is in charge of who she dates and who she doesn't, its up to her."

"Fair enough." Nathan said nodding as they walked into the gym to start practice.

* * *

After practice was over, Lucas headed to his car, he didn't see Peyton so he assumed she already left and made his way over to her house.

"Hey you." Lucas said as he leaned against the door to Peyton's room. She was flipping through her records.

"Hey." She greeted.

"So, you gonna tell me what was going on before or am I going to have to guess?" Lucas asked.

"I'm sorry I acted like a total weirdo." Peyton said sitting down on her bed, as Lucas followed and did the same.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asked as he rubbed her back.

"I don't know, I guess I was just scared."

"Of what?"

"Of everything." Peyton said, getting up from the bed and walking toward her record shelves. "Of you, of me, of us, of people finding out about us, of their reactions."

"People or Brooke and Nathan?" Lucas asked, knowing exactly what was going through her head, like he always did.

"Both." Peyton admitted. "I mean, I want to kiss you Luke, believe me, I just don't want you to wake up one day and realize you made a mistake and you shouldn't have left Brooke in the first place."

"Peyton." Lucas said getting up off the bed and walking toward her. "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know, I guess it was just seeing Brooke, I started having second thoughts and then I had a fight with her and she said some things that made me think about it."

"You are not and will never be a mistake to me Peyton. I love you, I promise you that." Lucas stated.

"But-" Peyton started but was cut off by Lucas crashing his lips onto hers in their third earth shattering kiss of the day.

"You think too much." Lucas said.

"So I've heard."

"Look Peyton, when I broke up with Brooke it wasn't just because of what happened with her and Nathan, it was because the spark was gone and I didn't feel anything anymore. Truth is, that even while I was with her, I was starting to think I had feelings for you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And now I'm with you, and I wouldn't change that for the world because I am completely, one hundred percent in love with you Peyton Sawyer." Lucas declared. Peyton didn't say anything, she was speechless, so she conveyed her feelings in the most passionate kiss the young couple had ever experienced.

"I love you too." She whispered as she pulled away.

"So we're good now? No second thoughts? No regrets?" Lucas asked.

"Yes."

"Good, because this is the real deal Sawyer, no backing out now." Lucas told her.

"I would never even think about it." Peyton said as she kissed him. Her arms found their way around his neck and she backed them up to the bed and the two fell down on it. They spent the rest of the night enticed in a pretty steamy make out session before Lucas had to follow Karen's orders and head home.

* * *

AN: Okay, I considered splitting this up into two chapters, but I figured, what the hell, its seperated so its not hard to read ..might as well right? So, I'm not completely happy with this chapter and I re-wrote it quite a few times before getting completely frustrated with it and giving up. So I hope its not a complete dissappointment to you. And also, I'm a little stuck with how to plan out some things ..I know what I want to do I just haven't figured out exactly how to put it into writing just yet. So any suggestions you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

And I know a lot of you wanted Naley, so I'm going to attempt to put it in, which I started to do in this chapter, they might just be space fillers if I need it. And I know a lot of you also wanted Nathan to be friends with Lucas, so they are being civil to each other, and I hope it isnt a complete shock to you because I didn't do a lot with them ...I dont know, maybe they will be friends in the end, but with what I'm planning it may be difficult. And I love writing Bitchy Brooke, so yeah... lol I just dont see her and Peyton being friends in this story. Okay I'm going to shut up now before I give you all a headache.


	19. Chapter 19

"Luke? You here?" Peyton asked as she walked into his house. She was meeting him at his place so they could drive over to the basketball game together. It was Friday, aka, game day and of course all the players and cheerleaders had to be present.

"Peyton?" Karen called from the kitchen. "Come on in, sweetie."

"Hey Karen. Lucas here?" Peyton asked as she walked into the kitchen and saw Karen sitting at the table flipping through an old photo album.

"He's in the shower, he should be out in a minute." Karen said as Peyton nodded. "Sit down." She ushered. "So how are things with you two?"

"Uh… good. Great actually." Peyton said, smiling.

"That's good. I'm glad you two are happy." Karen said truthfully.

"Hey Ma, who was at-" Lucas said, emerging from the bathroom in nothing but a towel. "Peyton, hey."

"Hey Luke." Peyton said, both of the teens now blushing a bit at Lucas' current choice of wardrobe.

"Uh, Luke why don't you go change, and I'll entertain Peyton for a few minutes." Karen said as Lucas disappeared into his room.

"What are you looking at?" Peyton asked, pointing to the photo album.

"Oh, just some old family pictures." Karen said. "Look, here's you and Lucas on your first day of seventh grade." She said pointing to the picture.

"Oh god." Peyton said, embarrassed by her wardrobe choice on that day.

"Ya know, even from back then I always had a feeling you two were going to end up dating some day. And when I would joke around with you two about it you would look at me like I was crazy." Karen said.

"Yeah, who knew?" Peyton said laughing. "Oh god, is that Lucas?" She asked pointing to a picture of a young blonde boy, roughly around the age of five or six standing in the living room with a superman outfit on.

"Ah yes, the superman phase. He got that for Halloween and refused to take it off for the next month." Karen remembered while Peyton just laughed. "He called himself 'Super Luke' and ran around saving various household items from danger. He almost electrocuted himself trying to save the toaster from the evil bread." Karen said, as Peyton laughed hysterically.

"What's so funny?" Lucas asked coming out of his bedroom.

"Oh nothing … Super Luke." Peyton said, starting to laugh again.

"Oh god, you had to take those damn pictures out didn't you?" Lucas asked, embarrassed out of his mind. "I thought you burned them."

"Sorry Lucas." Karen said.

"Aw, don't worry, I think its cute." Peyton said getting up to kiss him on the cheek. "Super Luke."

"Now you're never going to let that go are you?"

"Never." Peyton said.

"Well, we should get going before we miss the game. Whitey will have my head."

"And Brooke will have mine."

"Okay Ma, see you later." Lucas said leaning down to kiss his mother's cheek.

"Bye kids, have fun."

"Oh yeah … tons of fun." Lucas said as he put his arm around Peyton and exited the house.

"Remind me to burn those pictures later." Lucas said as they reached the car and got in.

Peyton laughed. "Oh leave the woman alone." She said. "And ya know, I was in that house for a good half hour and I still haven't gotten a proper hello from you yet."

"Oh yeah like I was going to do that in front of my mom after what happened the other night."

"Excuses, exc-" Peyton started but was cut off as Lucas lowered his lips to hers in a searing kiss that would have caused fireworks if this were a cartoon.

"Hi." Lucas said simply as they pulled away. "Is that better?"

"Much." Peyton said.

"Now, I just realized something." Lucas said.

"And what's that?"

"That I haven't taken you out on an official date yet."

"Oh, Luke you don't-"

"Yes I do." Lucas said. "I'm taking you out on our official first date and I won't take no for an answer." He stated, deadpanned.

"If you insist." Peyton replied.

"Okay, how about tomorrow?" He asked as Peyton nodded. "Okay, tomorrow night it is. Pick you up at 7."

"Okay. 7 it is." Peyton said smiling as they pulled up to the school. Lucas got out and opened Peyton's door for her. "Always the gentleman." She commented.

"Of course." Lucas said as he noticed Peyton staring. He followed her gaze which was laying on Brooke who was sending her the death glare. "Peyton?"

"Hm?" Peyton asked, finally shifting her gaze.

"What – uh – happened with you and Brooke? I heard something about a fight?"

"It wasn't physical. We just butt heads a lot, arguments and such."

"Oh. You okay?"

"Yeah, I just learn to ignore her and her comments, I love being on the squad and I'm not going to let her get to me."

"Good for you." Lucas said putting his arm around her as they walked toward the gym. "So, are you over this no PDA thing?"

"Totally." Peyton said.

"Thank god." Lucas said causing Peyton to giggle.

"Oh look who showed up." Brooke commented as she saw Peyton walking toward the rest of the squad.

"Not tonight Brooke." Peyton said as she sat down next to Bevin and started stretching.

"Aw, what's the matter? Can't think of a snappy comeback tonight?"

"No, I can, I just don't feel like wasting my breath on a whore like you." Peyton said.

"Yeah Brooke, why can't you just leave her alone?" Bevin asked. Bevin was quite fond of Peyton, and was sick of the way Brooke was treating her, in fact, most of the girls on the squad liked Peyton.

"Stay out of it Betty." Brooke snapped.

"Its Bevin, and no I won't stay out of it. Ever since Lucas dumped your ass you've been acting like a total bitch to Peyton when she has done nothing to you at all!" Bevin yelled, standing up, causing Peyton to look up at her in shock. "She's not the one who made you jump into bed with Nathan."

"You little-" Brooke started but was cut off by Peyton.

"See, I'm not the only one who noticed it. You think it'll make you feel better about yourself to blame your mistakes on other people, but its not going to work Brooke, you're just going to end up alone. And quite frankly I see it as a waste of time. Face the facts Brooke, you made a mistake and now you're suffering the consequences."

"Oh don't play Ghandi with me you little blonde skank."

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Peyton commented.

"At least I have a mother!" Brooke retorted, immediately regretting her words. Peyton just stood there staring at her in shock, tears immediately filling her eyes, threatening to fall, she quickly turned on her heel and ran out of the gym.

"What the hell is wrong with you Brooke?!" Lucas yelled as he ran over after witnessing the attack.

"I-I'm sorry … I-" Brooke stuttered, shocked by her own words.

"Save it." Lucas said, shaking his head before running after Peyton.

"Brooke that was seriously crossing the line." Bevin said.

"Yeah well, bitch deserved it."

"Do you even have a morsel of a heart?"

"Ya know what? I don't have to take this. I'm going to get drunk." Brooke said walking off.

"Brooke! What about the game?" Bevin yelled, receiving nothing but a middle finger from Brooke.

"What happened?" Nathan asked walking over to Bevin.

"Brooke and Peyton got into a word battle again and Brooke made a comment about Peyton's mom and Peyton ran off and Lucas ran after her."

"Great. Now what are we doing to do?"

"I don't know, but I'd hate to be Brooke when Lucas gets a hold of her." Bevin commented.


	20. Chapter 20

Lucas exited the gym searching for Peyton but she was long gone by then. He started thinking about where she would go, he checked her house, the café and his house and still no sign of Peyton. Finally it dawned on him where she might have gone and he ran as fast as he could. Sure enough, he was right and he found her sitting on the ground leaning against her mother's grave stone.

"Thought I'd find you here." Lucas said walking up behind her. She didn't turn around, she stayed silent, all that was heard were her sobs. He sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry Peyton."

"You didn't do anything." She said, still not looking up at him. "It was all Brooke."

"Yeah well Brooke's a bitch." He said truthfully.

"She's right though. I don't have a mother, and I never will, and its funny because today's the five year anniversary of her death, wonder if Brooke knew that." She said, starting to cry again.

"Shh, its okay." Lucas said, rubbing her back, trying his best to comfort her. Truthfully, he didn't know what to say to her, except telling her everything would be okay, even if Peyton knew exactly what he was doing.

"No, its really not. I mean, normal seventeen year old girls have mothers and fathers and normal happy families. I don't." Peyton said, her sobs calming down a bit.

"Peyton, you know your mother's always with you, even if you cant see her." He said, still not really knowing what to say.

"Yeah I know, but its so hard." Peyton said. She started crying again, burying her face in Lucas' chest. "Especially now."

"Why?" Lucas asked, looking down at her, pressing his lips to her head.

"Because this is the point in my life where I need my mom the most." She said, raising her voice a little. "Ya know, I'm starting a relationship with a guy that I truly love, and she should be around so I can talk to her about it! I mean why did she have to die? Huh? She should be here!" She yelled, standing up.

"Peyton-"

"No, I mean, you see all these television shows, and you look at your friends and they all have mothers and fathers that love them and that are there for them! But what do I have? A dead mother and an absentee father!" She yelled. "I want my mom back! God, I would give anything to be able to go home and talk to her about my day, or even argue with her about something, have her send me to my room! Anything! But I cant! … I … can't! Peyton said, breaking down and letting all of her emotions out. Lucas didn't say anything he just went over and held her for dear life.

"Why did she leave me?" Peyton half yelled, half sobbed as Lucas held her. "Why?!" She yelled, hitting his chest. Lucas didn't flinch, he just held her and whispered reassuring words in her ear. Eventually the hitting ceased and her sobs quieted down a bit. They just stood there, in the middle of the cemetery, him holding her while she cried, her calming down, knowing that Lucas was there and that he would help her. He always did, he was her life, and she was his.

* * *

After she had calmed down, Lucas suggested they head back to her place, to hell with the basketball game, they had probably missed half of it anyway. She agreed and the two headed to his car. 

"You okay?" Lucas asked as the pulled up in front of her house. She only nodded, trying to fight the urge to cry again. Lucas got out and opened her door for her, she followed and they headed up to her room.

"Do you want anything? Food? Tissue? A bucket of water to throw on Brooke, see if she melts?" Lucas joked, trying to lighten the mood. She chuckled, shaking her head as she walked over to her bed and sat down.

"Thank you Lucas." Peyton said as he walked over to her.

"For what?" Lucas asked sitting down next to her.

"Everything. For being there for me, not just tonight but every time I needed you."

"You know I would do anything for you." Lucas said, pulling her into an embrace, placing his lips on her forehead.

"I know." Peyton said, nodding. She truly believed him. "Promise me something."

"What?" Lucas asked looking down into her beautiful hazel eyes.

"Promise me, that no matter what happens, you'll never leave me. No matter what happens between us, you'll always be my friend. Because just about every person that I care about leaves and I don't think I could bear it if that happened with you."

"I would never leave you." Lucas said, truly meaning it as he held her tighter, kissing her forehead.

"Good." She whispered. "Good."

"Sorry Sawyer, but you're stuck with me." He joked.

"No complaints here."

"Okay, now that that's settled. You should get some sleep." He said as she nodded. She laid back on the bed and he pulled the blankets over her and kissed her forehead before heading for the door.

"Lucas-" Peyton said, grabbing his arm. "Don't leave." She pleaded. "Please." He nodded and climbed into the bed with her. He opened his arms and she snuggled into him, it was funny how perfectly she fit in his arms. It was like they were two perfectly fit puzzle pieces. He was her other half, the right to his wrong, the black to his white. They fit together, seamlessly and they wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

AN: Okay, sorry for the delay. I have one more pre-written chapter and then I'm back to square one. Also, I started a new fic about S5 because I just watched some spoiler/filming videos of an LP scene and the idea just hit me and I began writing but I probably won't post it until this one's finished. But this new fic won't be a fluffy one like this one, its much much much more angsty and come on who doesnt love a little LP angst? ...and also did any of you read the new sides they have for Season 5? Cuz i was thinking of using them in my fic (changing them a bit but using the same concept) ...can I do that? Or is it prohibited? Sorry if these long AN's are annoying you, but I never said you had to read them lol 


	21. Chapter 21

Peyton awoke early the next morning and rolled over, feeling the spot next to her which to her surprise was empty. She opened her eyes and saw a note on the pillow.

_Peyton,_

_Went home to change and get coffee, be back in a half hour._

_- Lucas_

Peyton couldn't help but smile to herself after reading the note. Last night she was a total mess but Lucas always made her feel better. Being in his arms was the best feeling in the world to Peyton. Even thinking about him made her feel better, he made her feel safe and more importantly, he loved her.

"Hey." Lucas said, startling her out of her trance, walking over to her bed and sitting down.

"Hey yourself." Peyton replied, scooting over to grant him room.

"You seem happy." He commented.

"Maybe that's because I am." Peyton said, beaming from ear to ear.

"I'm glad to hear it." He said, putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into him.

"So about that date tonight…" Peyton started.

"You still up for it?" Lucas asked, surprised she had even remembered.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, I just figured after last night you wouldn't be so keen on a date tonight."

"Well I am."

"Good."

"What do you have planned Mr. Scott?" Peyton said, looking up at him, with a flirtatious grin.

"I'm not telling you." Lucas said simply.

"Dude, not fair!" Peyton said slapping him lightly in the chest.

"Who said anything about being fair?" Lucas teased.

"Oh come on, just a hint?" She asked, Lucas shook his head. "Come on… just one little teeny tiny hint?" Peyton pleaded, looking up at him with the best puppy dog look she could muster this early in the day.

"No." Lucas said.

"Luucccaasssss, Pleeeease?" Peyton asked, poking her lower lip out.

"Nope." Lucas said.

"Not even if I did this?" Peyton said, leaning up to plant soft kisses along his neck. "…Or this?" She asked moving up to his jaw line and again toward the back of his ear. He groaned in response and she smiled victoriously. She pulled away and they stared into each other's eyes.

"No." Lucas said. Peyton groaned in frustration.

"You suck!" She said, moving to the other side of the bed, crossing her arms over her chest, pouting like a three year old.

"Love you too Peyt." Lucas said leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Yeah yeah yeah."

"Okay, well, I'm going to go, I have some stuff to do so I'll see you tonight around 7." Lucas said getting off the bed and grabbing his stuff.

"You're lucky I do love you." Peyton said. Lucas laughed and leaned down to give her a quick peck before exiting the house. Peyton sat there for a while before the realization dawned on her. She was going out on a date… with Lucas. What the hell was she going to wear?! She jumped off the bed and headed for her closet.

* * *

"Knock knock." Haley said entering Peyton's room.

"Hey Hales, thanks for coming." Peyton said, emerging from her closet.

"No problem, what's the big emergency? … Whoa, what cyclone hit this room?" Haley said, just realizing the shape her room was in. There were clothes everywhere, thrown on the floor, the bed, the dresser, shoes scattered in various places. It looked like a tornado whipped through there.

" Lucas and I are going on our first official date tonight and I have no idea what I'm going wear!" Peyton said, rather quickly and all in one breath.

"Okay, Peyton, look at me." Haley said, walking over to her and grabbing her shoulders. "Breathe, okay?" Haley said while Peyton took a deep breath. "Now, why is it such a big deal? Its only Lucas, he's seen you in your head gear for god's sake."

"Don't go there." Peyton said referring to her head gear comment. "And no, its not just Lucas now, its Lucas, my boyfriend, not Lucas my best friend! They are two completely different people!" Peyton said.

"Breathe Peyton, breathe." Haley said trying to calm her down. "Now, you know you could show up in a garbage bag and still look gorgeous to Lucas, and to anyone for that matter." Haley said. "Where are you guys going?"

"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me."

"Oh well that's…"

"Annoying?"

"No, its sweet. He wants to surprise you." Haley said smiling. "Now, lets see what we can do." Haley said walking over to the piles of clothes Peyton had gone through.

* * *

"Hey Skills." Lucas said walking up to Skills who was standing by the bleachers of the River Court.

"Yo Luke." Skills greeted, he then moved his head to look behind Lucas' shoulder, over to the side, to the other side, he looked all around the court which earned a questioning look from Lucas.

"Skills? What are you doing?" Lucas asked.

"Looking for your other half." Skills joked referring to Peyton.

"She's at her house." Lucas informed.

"Whoa, aint that a shock. Peyton's usually attached to your hip." Skills joked. "Hold up … something happen wit you two?"

"Nah, we're good."

"Good. Uh, how she doin'? I saw what happened last night."

"Yeah she's okay, Brooke just hit a nerve is all." Lucas said.

"She really crossed the line."

"Tell me about it." Lucas commented. "I found Peyton at the cemetery. I haven't seen her that upset since sixth grade."

"Girl's got a lot to deal wit."

"Yeah. Well, speaking of Peyton … I kinda need your help with something." Lucas said.

"My help? This cant be good."

"See, we're going out on our first official date tonight and with what happened last night I didn't expect her to want to go so I kinda flaked and forgot and I told her I was gonna surprise her and…"

"You have no idea what you're gonna do." Skills finished.

"I have ideas, I just need help doing it."

"Aight, I aint the romantic type but I can try."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

* * *

AN: Figured I'd just post this even though I planned on making you wait a while like i usually do... okay now I need your help. I dont know what to do with LP's date ... I need suggestions in a big way ...help me out? please? ...the faster you suggest, the faster i get the next chapter written and posted ) 


	22. Chapter 22

* * *

"Come on Peyton you've been in there forever." Haley said from outside the bathroom door in Peyton's room. She and Peyton had spent hours looking for the perfect outfit for her date with Lucas and Haley insisted she had found the perfect one and sent Peyton to change.

"I don't know about this Hales." Peyton said from the other side of the door.

"That outfit is perfect, you're gonna look like a total knockout Peyt, trust me, now come out so I can see." Haley said.

"Okay." Peyton said slowly opening the door and stepping out of the bathroom.

"Wow." Haley said as Peyton came out dressed in a simple black spaghetti strapped top and matching skirt that fell to her knees, the bottom flowed out a bit giving it a girly feel but not so much that it was totally un-Peyton like and she had black strappy heels on to match. Her hair had a subtle wave to it and her makeup was natural, not too much, not too little.

"Ya think so?" Peyton asked, looking in the mirror.

"You look amazing Peyton." Haley said truthfully.

"Really?" Peyton asked still a bit self conscious of the outfit.

"I'm Haley, I don't lie." Haley said causing Peyton to chuckle. "Lucas' jaw is going to drop when he sees you."

"Thanks for helping me Haley."

"No problem, thats what friends are for." Haley said. "So do you have any idea what Lucas has planned for tonight?"

"Not at all." Peyton said.

"Well whatever it is I'm sure its going to be great." Haley said.

"I hope so." Peyton replied. "So, uh, what's going on with you and Nathan?" she asked a little out of nowhere.

"Me and Nathan?"

"Yeah you two seem to be together a lot nowadays." Peyton commented.

"Yeah ... I mean I was tutoring him and then we started hanging out a bit and now..." Haley trailed off.

"Now what?"

"I don't know ... I mean whenever I'm around him I just ... freeze up and all rational thoughts leave my head ...its like when he's around, nothing else exists." Haley said.

"Sounds like someone's falling for Nathan Scott." Peyton observed, while going through her jewelry box.

"Yeah but I doubt he feels the same way and I don't know if I really want to get caught up in all the Nathan drama." Haley said.

"He's changed a lot Haley, he's not the same guy he was when I was dating him, and trust me, the way he looks at you, he definitely feels the same way." Peyton said, turning to Haley.

"How would you know?"

"I observe." Peyton said simply, shrugging her shoulders and turning back to the mirror.

"Ok, so what if he does? Its Nathan Scott for god's sake!" Haley exclaimed.

"Look, Haley if you truly feel that way about him and he does too then why not do something about it?" Peyton said as she walked over to the bed and sat down next to Haley.

"But I'm Haley, I'm not the 'do something about it' type."

"There's a first time for everything. Look, next time you see him, ask him if he wants to hang, if he says yes than he's into you and will probably ask you out, if he says maybe then he's into you but doesnt know it yet and if he says no then he's an ass."

"Ok." Haley said taking a deep breath.

"And if he does say yes, and asks you out, just be careful okay? He's changed but he may revert to his old ways." Peyton warned.

"I will, thanks Peyton." Haley said as Peyton nodded. "Pardon my bluntness here but have you and Lucas ... ya know-"

"No, at least not yet." Peyton said.

"Are you planning on it?" Haley asked.

"Eventually, I guess its inevitable. But with me and Luke its never really been all about sex, ya know?" Peyton said as Haley nodded.

"Unlike Nathan." Haley commented.

"Yeah ... with Nathan that was pretty much all it was. But Lucas and I have this deep emotional connection and its like ... nothing I've ever felt before." Peyton said.

"I told you, you two were made for each other." Haley said. "So exactly how far have you two gone?"

"God Haley when did you become this sex obsessed?" Peyton joked. "Kidding ... we've done just about everything there is to do without ... ya know."

"Ooh."

"But ya know if all goes well tonight ... you never know what could happen. I just want it to be perfect, because I rushed into it with Nathan and that turned out really really bad and I don't want that to happen with Lucas. I love him too much." Peyton said truthfully.

"He feels the same way." Haley said.

"He told you that?"

"No, its so obvious with the way he looks at you. You should have seen how angry he got with Brooke after the other night, if she wasn't a girl he would have beat the shit out of her." Haley said while Peyton nodded.

"Okay, all ready to go with a half hour to spare. That's a record." Peyton said, trying to get off the topic of Brooke Davis.

"You look great girlie."

* * *

"Aight dawg, looks like we done here." Skills said as he and Lucas headed to his car.

"Yeah, thanks man, couldn't have done it without you."

"Yeah you could." Skills said.

"Ya know, I try to be nice and-" Lucas joked.

"Sorry. Okay well you have fifteen minutes til your date officially starts."

"Yeah I gotta get home and change."

"So, uh, what do you plan on doin' tonight?"

"Skills we just spent three hours setting up for it, what kind of question is that?"

"Yeah yeah, I mean after the date." Skills said.

"Skills you dirty minded-"

"Hey I'm just curious is all."

"Look, me and Peyton haven't gone there yet, I mean we've done our fair share of ...other ... things but I'm not sure she's ready yet."

"You make it sound like Sawyer's this virtuous little virgin girl ...she dated Nathan Scott for god's sake.. and you dated queen of the sluts."

"Watch it. And yeah I know that, but its different with Peyton and I ... our relationship isn't just based on sex, its deeper."

"How much deeper?" Skills joked.

"Ok dude, just shut up." Lucas said. "Look, when Peyton's ready, I will be too."

"And what if she's ready tonight?"

"Then so be it." Lucas said. "Now, as much as I loved this heart to heart I have to go change and pick Peyton up."

"See ya." Skills said as Lucas' drove off.

* * *

Knock Knock

"Oh that must be Lucas" Haley said as she heard the knock at the door.

"Ok, how do I look?" Peyton said, twirling around.

"Great. Same as you did the last three times you asked me." Haley joked.

"Why am I so nervous anyway? God its Lucas, my best friend, slash boyfriend and I'm a mess."

"You're not a mess, you're just in love." Haley said causing Peyton to smile. "Now I'm going to go get the door and you can sit there and fiddle with your hair some more."

"Thanks Hales."

"Yeah and tomorrow, I want details missy." Haley said, turning around as she reached the door.

"Deal." She said as Haley ran to get the door.

"Hey... Haley." Lucas said, not expecting Haley to open the door.

"Hey Luke." Haley greeted as Peyton came down the stairs.

"Wow. Peyton you look ...amazing." Lucas said as he looked over Haley's shoulder to where Peyton was standing.

"Why thank you. You don't look so bad yourself." Peyton flirted.

"Okay, I'm gonna go, you kids have fun, but not too much fun now." Haley joked.

"Bye Hales." Peyton said as Haley left.

"Hey." Lucas said walking closer to Peyton.

"Hi." Peyton greeted as she leaned up to kiss him.

"Ready to go?" Lucas asked as the kiss broke, holding out his arm for Peyton.

"Yep. Are you going to tell me where we're going?" Peyton asked.

"Nope."

"Ugh. You are unbelievable."

"Ah you love me and you know it." Lucas said, kissing her on the cheek as they reached the car. He opened her door for her.

"Always the gentleman." Peyton commented as she got in the car.

"Of course." He said as he walked over to his side of the car.

"Here." Lucas said once he got in the car, handing Peyton a blindfold.

"You're shitting me right?" Peyton said, staring at the blindfold in Lucas' hand.

"Afraid not Blondie." Lucas said. "Come on, put it on."

"This is so cliché." Peyton muttered, taking the blindfold.

"Come on, its a surprise and I don't want you to see where we're going."

"Fine, you win. The blindfold is on, happy now?" Peyton said, not facing him.

"Thank you." Lucas said, waving his hand in front of her to make sure she couldn't see anything. After a few seconds, he decided she couldn't see and turned his attention back to the road. Peyton reached her hand over to the radio dials and began fiddling with them.

"And what do you think you're doing?" Lucas asked.

"Hey, you got me to wear this stupid thing, the least you could do is let me pick the music." Peyton said, still annoyed by the blindfold.

"Fine." Lucas mumbled as Peyton smiled victoriously.

* * *

"Ok. We're here." Lucas said as they arrived at their destination.

"Now can I take this thing off?" Peyton asked, pointing to the blindfold.

"Not just yet. Now wait there." Lucas said as he got out of the car and headed to Peyton's side to open the door and help her out. Once she was out, he helped her walk to where he wanted her to be so she wouldn't trip or anything.

"Alright. Just stand right here." Lucas said. "Okay you can take the blindfold off now." And as quickly as the words came out of his mouth, Peyton had the blindfold off and was now staring in awe.

"Oh my god." She whispered. She was standing in the center of the River Court. In the middle, there was a picnic blanket set up and a basket with food in it, there were table settings on the blanket and candles scattered in various places. "You did all this?" She asked looking up at Lucas who's gaze never left her.

"I had help from Skills and my mom cooked the food." Lucas told her.

"Aw. I knew there was a reason I loved you." Peyton said smiling as she walked over to Lucas and planted a kiss on his jaw line. "Thank you for this Luke, its amazing."

"Anything for you, baby girl." Lucas said leaning down to kiss her. After the kiss broke the two walked over to the blanket and sat down. Karen had truly outdone herself with the food, which they ate rather quickly. After they were done eating, they settled themselves down on the blanket in each other's arms and looked at the stars. Peyton rested her head on Lucas' chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

"God I am so full I don't think I'll eat for a week." Peyton commented, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen upon the two.

"Yeah right, you of all people." Lucas joked earning a slap on the chest from Peyton. "Sorry." Lucas said.

"Always gotta ruin the moment." Peyton muttered causing Lucas to chuckle. "Thanks again Luke, this has been the best first official date ever." She said reaching up to place a quick peck on his cheek. The next thing to be heard was a clap of thunder which startled Peyton.

"Sounds like a storm is coming in. Maybe we should get in before it starts raining." Lucas suggested.

"Why? Rain always seems to be a good thing for us." She laughed, remembering their first kiss. "But you're right." She said as she and Lucas got up. They gathered they're stuff and drove back to Peyton's house. When they arrived the got out of the car and Lucas walked her to her door.

"I had a great time tonight Luke." Peyton said as they reached the door.

"Yeah me too. Too bad it had to end right?"

"Who said it was over?" Peyton flirted as she giggled and pulled Lucas into the house.

Not long after they were up in her room enticed in a steamy make-out session. Lucas pushed Peyton up against the wall and moved his lips to her neck. He began sucking on her pulse point, making her moan softly. He then moved up to the spot just below her ear, where he had learned long ago was her weak spot, making her moan even more. He smiled at his effect on her. While he was doing that, her hands were moving up and down his back, gripping his waist. She moved her hands lower and tugged at his shirt. He broke away from his ministrations long enough for her to lift his shirt off his body. Her hands then made their way to his perfectly toned chest. She pulled his face up to hers and their lips met in a heated kiss. His hands, by now were under her skirt teasing the skin on her outer thighs, sending shivers down her spine.

He continued torturing her, kissing her neck, her jawline, down to her collarbone. Peyton finally gained enough strength to back them up so they were heading toward the bed. Before they knew it, they were falling down on the bed. Lucas flipped them over so that he was on top, and for the most part, in control. His hands found their way to the hem of her top and he quickly pulled it over her head. Lucas could sense where this was going and pulled away.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked, Peyton smiled at his concern.

"Yes, I am." She said, nodding.

"Ok, I just wanted to make sure." He added.

"I love you." She said.

"I love you too." He said as he leaned down to capture her lips again. She moaned in his mouth.

She flipped them over with every ounce of strength she could find. She grinned at him and moved her lips to his neck. It was her turn to torture him. She moved down his neck, and kissed all the way down his chest, eliciting a slight groan from Lucas. She made her way back up and kissed him again, running her tongue across the seam of his lips asking for entrance, which he gladly granted.

The kiss deepened, Lucas ran a hand through her golden locks as the other roamed her back. Her hands were running up and down his chest. He rolled them over again, regaining control. He trailed kisses along her collarbone, down between her breasts and across her stomach. Her hands were fumbling with his belt, and sensing her struggling Lucas removed his belt and his pants along with it, leaving him in just his boxers.

Feeling a tad over-dressed, Peyton reached down to unzipper her skirt, sliding it off and throwing it over to where the rest of their clothing was. Things progressed from there and the two made love for the first time.

Afterwards, they laid together in Peyton's bed. Peyton's head was on Lucas' chest and he was stroking her blonde curls with his hand.

"That was..." Peyton started.

"Yeah." He added with a laugh.

"If I had known it was going to be that good, I wouldn't have waited so long." She joked causing Lucas to chuckle.

"I love you." Lucas said as he kissed her forehead.

"I love you too." She said, leaning up to kiss him. "I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted." She said with a yawn.

"Me too. Lets get some sleep." He said as he reached over to shut the lamp on her bedside table off.

"Won't your mom have a problem with this?" Peyton asked.

"She would, but its a good thing she's at some cooking convention in Charleston, she won't be back til Monday." Lucas said.

"Oh, lucky me, guess I get you all to myself for the next two days." She giggled. "Goodnight Lucas." Peyton said as she turned to her side and snuggled into the blankets.

"Night Peyt." Lucas replied as he repeated her actions and wrapped his arm around her stomach and pulled her to him.

* * *

AN: Okie dokie, I'm not completely satisfied with this chapter but oh well. And drama is coming, and its a little delayed and may seem out of place but I really wanted to get a lot of happy LP in before I start with the drama and what-not. And I don't want this story to end, but I'm running out of ideas, so ...yeah. I'm gonna have to go back and watch every episode of every teen drama to get more ideas lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry if it sucked. 


	23. Chapter 23

Sorry for the delay, I've been really busy lately and I lost track of time and I'm kinda getting stuck with where to go. I have all my ideas set, I just don't know how to properly execute them without it seeming too out of place, but I don't want to give anything away so ..Enjoy chapter 23.

* * *

Peyton awoke the next morning, still wrapped in Lucas' embrace. She thought back to the events of last night and a smile graced her features. Last night had truely been one of the best nights of Peyton Sawyer's life. She cherished this moment, just lying there listening to the steady beat of his heart. A few moments later he began to stir.

"Good Morning." She greeted, looking up into his piercing blue eyes.

"Now it is." He flirted, still a bit groggy, she smiled and leaned up to press a kiss to his throat. "How'd you sleep?"

"Perfectly." She said, snuggling into his chest a bit more.

"Mm, me too." He said kissing the top of her head. "Last night was pretty perfect."

"It was more than perfect." She said genuinely, leaning up to kiss him. The kiss lingered for a few seconds before they pulled away.

"Did I ever tell you you're an amazing kisser?" Lucas teased causing Peyton to chuckle.

"Yeah, a few times actually." She joked.

"Mm, you're good at a few other things too." He said suggestively.

"Really? Like what?" She flirted. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, causing her to blush and giggle. Their flirty banter was interupted by the shrill ring of her alarm clock.

"Ugh, I'm going to throw that thing out the window one of these days I swear to God." Peyton muttered, reaching over to the other side of the bed, over Lucas to shut it off. Lucas stole this oppurtunity to grab her by the waist and start tickling her. She erupted in a fit of laughter as soon as his hands made contact with her stomach.

"Lucas ... stop ... please..." Peyton said in between giggles. He ignored her pleas and continued to torture her. "Lucas!!!!"

"Not until you say Lucas Scott is the King of the Universe." He told her. She refused, and he kept tickling her. She fought back with everything she had, but her efforts landed them on the floor, him on top of her, but not so much that he was crushing her. "Come on Peyt, say it."

"Ugh, Fine, Lucas Scott is the King of the Universe!" She yelled, and he stopped as he said he would.

"Thank you." He said, leaning down to kiss her. The kiss escalated as tongues met and dueled for control. Peyton's hands ran through Lucas' unruly sandy blonde locks as his were running under the t-shirt she was wearing, which happened to belong to him. She moaned softly as his hands worked their way up her thighs and ghosted over her stomach. Her hands were all over his back, moving around toward his chest.

"Peyton!" A voice from downstairs shouted causing the two teens to practically jump off of each other.

"Oh shit, my dad!" Peyton exclaimed, pushing Lucas off of her and as they stood up, pushed him toward her closet, throwing his clothes at him. "Get dressed."

"What's your dad doing home?" He whispered while throwing his clothes back on.

"Good question. He wasnt supposed to be back for another three weeks!" She yelled in a whisper. "Great timing. Now come on, I'll-uh I'll tell him you were picking me up for breakfast." She rambled while quickly throwing the nearest pajama's she could find on.

* * *

"Oh there you are." Larry said as he spotted Peyton heading down the stairs. "And Lucas too." He said skeptically, looking at the boy behind her.

"What are you doing home?" Peyton said as she walked toward him from the stairway, Lucas in tow and walked over to hug her father. "I thought you weren't getting in for another few weeks."

"Nice to see you too honey." Larry joked, hugging her back. "Yeah, well we had a stop nearby and I decided to cut this trip short and come home early." He said smiling. Peyton hugged him again.

"I'm glad your home Daddy." She said in an almost childlike voice.

"Hey ya Lucas." Larry greeted.

"Hey Mr. Sawyer."

"A little early, isn't it?" He asked, referring to the fact that Lucas was standing in his house at nine in the morning.

"Oh yeah I-uh- came to pick Peyton up for breakfast."

"Yeah its a new Sunday tradition we formed." Peyton said.

"Oh well, that's good. Glad to see you two are still attached at the hip."

"Yep, you know us, all the hip attached-ness." Peyton said, mentally kicking herself for the stupidity of that statement and letting out an awkward chuckle. "Well, we should get going before we miss the breakfast specials and have to pay full price."

"Ok sweetie, have fun and we'll have dinner together later?"

"Definitely. Love you." Peyton said quickly kissing her father's cheek and dragging Lucas by the sleeve out of the house.

Letting out a sigh of relief as they reached the car, Peyton turned toward Lucas. "That was too close for comfort."

"Yeah." Lucas said, giving her a slightly pissed off glare.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He denied, turning around and heading for his side of the car but he was stopped by Peyton's hand on his forearm.

"Lucas Scott." Peyton said, pulling him back. "I know you better than that, you've got that broody 'I'm pissed off, and I'm showing it but I want you to think I'm trying to hide it' look on your face. Now what's up?" She asked, still holding onto his bicep.

"Well you didn't exactly jump on the oppurtunity to tell your dad about us."

"That's what this is about?" Peyton asked. "Come on Luke, he just got back, I don't want to bombard him with it."

"Well it kinda makes me think you're...ashamed of me...or something."

"Lucas." Peyton said firmly. "I could never be ashamed of you, I love you. I just want to wait for the right time to tell my dad, its not a big deal." She told him, taking his hand in hers.

"Not a big deal? We're not a big deal to you?"

"Of course we are, the fact that I don't want to tell my dad right away isn't. And why are you being so..difficult?" Peyton asked.

"I'm not being difficult, I just figured you would be excited to tell your own father, who you haven't seen in months about your new relationship."

"Luke, I am excited and I know I'm being stupid because telling my dad about us shouldn't be a big deal but it is, because I really, love you." Peyton said, putting emphasis on the word 'really'.

"Ok." He said.

"Ok?"

"Yeah." He said nodding.

"Your sure? We're okay?"

"Yes." He said, leaning down as their lips collided in a short, yet sweet kiss.

"Alrighty, now come on Scott, I'm starving." She said pushing him toward his side of the car.

"Big surprise there." He muttered.

"I heard that." She said as they got in the car and drove to the cafe.

* * *

"Hey Keith." Lucas greeted as he and Peyton walked into the cafe, Peyton's arm was wrapped around Lucas' waist and his was over her shoulder.

"Hey kids, what're you doing here so early?"

"Breakfast of course." Peyton said.

"What are you doing here Keith?" Lucas asked.

"Well, since your mom is at that convention, I told her I would look after the cafe, make sure everything runs smoothly."

"Oh."

"Yeah let me just finish with the register and I'll put in your order. So what's new?" Keith asked.

"Nothing, Peyton's dad is home."

"Oh, that's nice, you seem excited." Keith said, looking at Peyton who was smiling frome ear to ear.

"Yeah, I am. I missed him."

"Ok, what can I get you?" He asked as he walked over to where they were seated at the counter.

"I'm in a pancake mood." Peyton said. "Lucas?"

"Pancakes sounds good to me." Lucas said, but Peyton gave him a look. "What?." he asked, confused by the glare he was getting, the glare soon turned into a puppy dog look and Lucas instantly knew what she meant. "On second thought, I'll have scrambled eggs with bacon." Lucas told Keith as he nodded and headed to the kitchen to fill the orders.

"Thank you." Peyton said in a childlike voice.

"Yeah, how silly of me to forget about the fact that you practically force me to order something different just so you can pick at my plate." Lucas said. "You're lucky I love you or I would have ditched you long ago, you pain in the ass."

"I may be a pain in the ass, but I'm your pain in the ass." Peyton said leaning over to kiss him as his hand reached up to cup her face. The kiss deepened a bit, but it ended shortly after they realized where they were. They pulled back and smiled at each other before engaging in conversation.

Little did they know that they were being watched by two very, very envious brown eyes that were situated in a nearby booth. If looks could kill, Lucas and Peyton would be dead and buried by now. Those eyes belonged to none other than, Brooke Penelope Davis.

* * *

AN: I'm sorry for any spelling errors I may have, but my Microsoft Word free trial ended (I just got a new laptop) and I don't have the CD so I have to go buy it and for now I'm stuck with using WordPad because Microsoft Works documents don't work on this site, so yeah...WordPad doesn't have spell check, so I'm screwed. Hope this chapter was up to par with you guys. 


	24. Chapter 24

Lucas and Peyton left the cafe, hand in hand and made their way back towards the car. He was driving her home so that she could spend some time with her dad.

"Okay, so I'll call you later?" Lucas said as they arrived back at Peyton's house.

"You better." She smiled, leaning in to kiss him. She caressed the side of his face with her hand as his made its way to the back of her head and settled in her curls. The kiss deepened as he slid his tongue into her mouth eliciting a slight moan from her. But before they started fogging up the windows, Peyton broke the kiss.

"I have to go." She said smiling, Lucas nodded but leaned in to kiss her again anyway.

"Mm...Luke..I...have..." She muttered between kisses.

"You have to go." He said as he joined their lips again, he pulled away after a quick, yet heated and passionate kiss.

"I'm going, this is me, and I'm leaving." Peyton tried to convince herself but failed as she kissed him again, her hands tangling in his hair, he let out a groan as her tongue lined the seam of his lips and quickly darted into his mouth.

"Ok..no..we have to stop." She said firmly, pushing herself away from him. "As much as I hate to, my dad's inside and he's waiting."

"Right." He agreed. "I'll call you later." He said as she nodded and got out of the car. With a wave, he drove off and she watched as his car retreated and a small smile graced her features.

"Dad?" Peyton called as she entered the house.

"Hey sweetie." He said as he emerged from the kitchen.

"Hey, what'ch'ya doing?" She asked.

"Nothing, just reading the mail." He said as they walked into the kitchen. "You're license is still suspended, I see." He observed, looking at the notices that piled up for tickets and such.

"Yeah... Lucas has been driving me everywhere."

"Well, I'll go down to the DMV and see what I can do about it."

"Thanks."

"Ok, well what do you feel like eating tonight? I could cook, we could go out.."

"I don't care, whatever you want to do." Peyton said.

"Yeah well there really aren't a lot of things to cook in the house, guess you're still using your allowance to buy records instead of food." He said causing Peyton to chuckle. "So I guess we're going out."

"Guess so. We could go to Karen's Cafe, Karen's at a convention in Charlotte but Keith's there." She suggested.

"Sounds perfect, why don't you invite Lucas? I'd love to catch up on the lives of the inseperable Lucas Scott and Peyton Sawyer."

"Uh, okay.." She laughed.

"Ok, so we'll head to the Cafe around six?"

"Sounds good." She nodded. "I'm going to go tell Lucas."

"Okay, see you later honey."

* * *

"Yo Luke." Skills greeted as he saw Lucas walking up to the River Court. Skills and Mouth were seated at the bleachers. 

"Hey Skills, Mouth." He said.

"Hey Luke, what's up?" Mouth asked.

"Nothing really."

"Where's your sidekick?" Skills asked referring to Peyton.

"Funny. She's home with her dad."

"Oh, when did he get back?"

"This morning, he kinda interupted Peyton and I..."

"Ohh, speaking of, how'd it go last night?" Skills asked, referring to the date he helped Lucas set up.

"Good. Really good actually." Lucas smiled.

"Dude, you totally got laid last night." Mouth commented.

"Maybe." Lucas said, smirking, earning a look from the other two guys.

"Good for you dawg, its about damn time the two of you got together."

Skills said.

"Yeah dawg." Mouth said, Lucas and Skills turned to give him a look. "I really just said 'dawg' didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did." Skills said as he and Lucas laughed and Mouth shook his head.

"Hey look who it is." Mouth commented looking over Lucas' shoulder toward Peyton who was walking up to where they were standing. Lucas and Skills turned around to see what Mouth was talking about.

"Hey guys." She said giving a small wave.

"Hey I thought you were with your dad." Lucas said as she reached them and he leaned down to give her a quick peck on the lips.

"Yeah I was but-"

"But you couldn't stand not being around me." Lucas joked, cutting her off.

"Funny. But no, he wants to have dinner at the cafe and told me to invite you, so here I am, inviting you."

"Sure, sounds great." He said putting his arm around her.

"So what are you guys up to?" Peyton asked, moving to sit down next to Mouth on the bleachers.

"Nothing much, just talkin'." Skills said. "Hey Luke, you up for a game?" he asked, holding up the basketball.

"Sure, if you're up for a loss." Lucas said.

"Oh, its on now." Skills said running to the center of the court, Lucas following.

The game started off with Skills making a shot right over Lucas' head, then it continued with Lucas catching the rebound and making his own shot.

"Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, Mouth McFadden here with Peyton Sawyer and we're watching what looks to be quite an interesting game between Lucas Scott and Skills Taylor." Mouth said, pretending to hold a microphone as he and Peyton watched the game.

"Come on Luke!" Peyton cheered as Skills shot her a playful glare.

The game went on, Skills and Lucas battling for the ball, making shots back and forth.

"And it looks like Lucas is now leading by two, if Skills makes this next shot he could tie the game, if not Lucas will have the chance to take the game." Mouth said. Peyton cheered Lucas on as he stole the ball and made the shot, signaling that he had won. "And with that three pointer, Lucas wins the game!"

"Told you, you were going to lose." Lucas joked, walking over to give Skills a quick 'man hug'. "No hard feelings?"

"I'm just having an off day, its ..the sun..yeah that's right, the sun was blinding me and when I went to shoot-" Skills tried to make an excuse.

"Yea right, dude." Lucas laughed.

"Shut up." Skills said walking over to Peyton and Mouth.

"Good game guys." Mouth said.

"Thanks." Lucas said as he walked over and sat down next to Peyton. He went to put his arm around her but she pulled away.

"Ew, Luke you're all sweaty." She whined while making a disgusted face. They all laughed. "I missed this." She said.

"Missed what?" Lucas asked, turning toward her.

"Hanging out with you guys, we haven't done this in a while." She clarified.

"Well ya know, we would if you two hadn't left us to join the 'it' crowd." Skills joked.

"Yeah..." Peyton trailed off, chuckling a bit.

"Speaking of, you and Nathan seem to be getting along lately." Mouth said to Lucas.

"Yeah, ya know I think I was wrong about him, he's not that bad of a guy, I mean yeah he's made his share of mistakes, but once you get to know him, he's not that bad." Lucas said. "He's changed a lot since he first got here."

"Tell me about it." Peyton muttered, looking down at her watch. "Uh, Luke we better get going if you're going to make it to dinner with me and my dad."

"Okay." Lucas said nodding.

"Somebody is whipped." Skills joked noticing how Lucas obeyed Peyton's orders.

"Real mature, man." Lucas joked, pounding fists with his friends. "See you guys later."

"Bye guys." Peyton said waving as she and Lucas headed for his car.

* * *

"I'll drive you home and then I'll head home to shower and change." Lucas said as they drove through the streets of Tree Hill toward Peyton's house. 

Peyton turned to him, smirking. "Or you could drive us both to your house and I could ..help you with that shower."

"Hm..I like the way you think, Sawyer." He said also smirking at her.

"Thought you would." She said, winking while Lucas silently praised the Lord that his mother was not home and Keith was at the Cafe.

He had barely gotten in the door before Peyton was attacking his lips with hers. They fumbled from the front door all the way down the hallway toward the bathroom. Tongues were battling, shirts were being tossed to the ground, shoes were being kicked off.

"Mm.. what has gotten into you today?" Lucas asked as they broke apart, gasping for air.

"I just spent an hour watching you run up and down a basketball court, getting all sweaty... watching you jump to make those baskets. It took all I had not to jump you." Peyton told him.

"Really?" He teased, raising an eyebrow.

"Mhm." She said smiling as she pulled him toward the bathroom by his belt loops. She giggled once they were inside while turning the shower on and he kicked the door shut behind them before lowering his lips onto hers again.

* * *

AN: Alrighty, there it is, just some feel good LP fluff. Now I know I keep saying 'drama's coming, the drama's coming' ...jeez I sound like Paul Revere ...and it hasnt come yet, well, it is I just need to work it in slowly, you can kinda see where i'm going, so yeah...slowly but surely. 

And I'd just like to take the time to thank my loyal reviewers and readers:

Stephy J. , LeytonLover4Ever, One Tree Hill Obsessed, ONETREEHILLGIRL1723, saraclough, kaligator, AngelofDeath07, raeraeraeliz, mugglette, Smutt Bear, anberlin, lonely girl 23, leytonetreehill, LP4Life4ever, eerriinn91, simoman, monkinikki, othstewy, leytonishot, luvtheoc09, LeytonTilEnd, SMNSoftballStar, RilesVaughn24, Jamyj30, Layton4Ever, AU96, RoxyRBD2290 and anyone else that I may have forgotten ...my memory sucks like that.

You guys rock, and I love you all especially for putting up with my babbling!

Now, Reviews are very important to me, and I enjoy reading them, so after your done reading this, hit that little purple-ish periwinkle button in the corner and review!! it takes like five seconds ... I am satisfied with the amount of reviews I get, but what can I say? I'm a glutton that way... great, now I'm ryhming.

The faster you review, the faster I update!!!!!


	25. Chapter 25

"Well if that wasn't the best shower I've ever had, I don't know what is." Lucas said, walking into his room, towel drying his hair.

"Yeah, it was alright." Peyton teased from her spot on his bed.

"Oh Peyton," He said, putting his hand to his heart faking a hurt expression. "how you hurt me with your words."

"Well, since we wasted a half hour in the shower ..oh look, I'm ryhming.." Peyton said.

"Yep, your a poet and you didn't know it." Lucas joked as he walked over to his dresser to fix his hair and what-not.

"Haha, so funny I forgot to laugh." She said sarcastically. "Well, as I was saying, we wasted time so now we have to get moving, I called my dad while you were in the bathroom and told him we'd meet him at the Cafe." She finished.

"Alright, then I guess we should get going." He said as he finished up and walked over to Peyton, grabbing her hand and pulling her off the bed. "I just have to do one thing."

"And what's that?" She asked, already knowing the answer, giving him a seductive smirk.

"This." He said, leaning down to capture her lips with his. Before the kiss had time to deepen, Peyton pulled away.

"We really need to go." She said, grabbing his muscular arm and pulling him out the door.

------------

"Oh guess what?" Peyton said excitedly as she and Lucas were in the car on the way to the Cafe.

"What?" He asked.

"My dad's going down to the DMV tomorrow to try and get my license ..un-suspended ...if that's a word."

"And how is this a good thing?" He said glancing over at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, slightly offended.

"Well, I mean, Peyton is to car as oil is to water ...they just don't mix."

"Hey! I am not that bad a driver." She exclaimed, slapping his arm lightly.

He scoffed. "Okay, I'll take 'How did Peyton lose her license' for four hundred, Alex." He joked. "Let's see, you had how many unpaid speeding tickets?"

"A few." Peyton said in a low voice.

"Yeah a few dozen, and what about those poor mailboxes you murdered? Or the five car pile-ups that you almost caused? Or dare I mention that poor innocent squirrel?" He asked rehetorically. "Or shall I remind you of the time you were doing seventy, in a school zone no less, and almost ran straight into a tree? Or-" He was cut off by Peyton.

"Okay, okay, I get it, at ease soldier. So I'm not exactly campaigning for 'Driver of the Year' but I'm not that bad." She tried defending herself, but Lucas shot her a look. "Okay, maybe I am."

"Uhuh."

"Well, regardless, I'm getting my license back, but you can still drive me to school and whatever, I don't want to screw up your routine."

"Yeah, that's code for 'I don't want to get my lazy ass up early to drive myself'." Lucas joked.

"Ya know, I'm your girlfriend, your not supposed to make fun of me." She said, folding her arms across her chest with a pout.

"Aw, I'm sorry baby, I didn't mean to upset you with..the truth." That comment earned him a smack in the arm, as they pulled up to the Cafe.

"Yeah, yeah." She said as he walked around to open up her door for her.

"Look, I'm sure after having your license suspended for God knows how long, you're driving habits have... changed for the better." He said, the last part slower than the rest, trying to get off the topic.

"Whatever, I'll prove it to you, I am a good driver, Scott, you'll see."

"Okay, lets end this pointless discussion at that and go have a nice dinner with your father." He said, reaching for her hand.

"Uh, Luke, I didn't tell him about us yet, I don't think hand-holding would be such a good idea."

Lucas sighed and ran a hand through his hair "And when do you plan on telling him?"

"After dinner." She said looking up at him. "Promise."

"Okay." He said nodding. "We'll tell him together."

"Alright." She said as they walked toward the Cafe.

'_Why is this such a big deal? God, Peyton pull yourself together. He's your father, your dating your best friend and you have to tell you father, what is the problem?!' _Peyton's thoughts were screaming at her. She didn't even know why she was being so wierd about this. She should be happy that she's in this relationship and she should be excited ..hell even giddy about telling her father.

-------------

"There you guys are." Larry said, noticing the arrival of the two blondes.

"Hey Daddy." Peyton said walking up to him to give him a peck on the cheek. Lucas followed and sat down in the empty booth, Peyton slid in next to him.

"Hey Larry, kids." Keith greeted as he walked out of the kitchen up to the booth where they were seated.

"Hi Keith, how are you?" Larry asked.

"I'm good, and yourself?"

"Fine, happy to be home."

"That's good. How're things going with you two lov-" Keith was cut off by the death glare Lucas was giving him and the kick in the shin Peyton gave him. "Uh, what - uh what can I get you guys?"

Larry didn't seem to notice the slip Keith almost made. Apparently, the two 'love birds', which was what Keith was going to say, didn't inform Keith that Larry didn't know about them yet. But he got the message loud and clear.

"Uh, I think I'm going to have a burger." Larry said, looking at the menu.

"Okay, kids? The usual?"

"Sounds good to me." Lucas said, while Peyton nodded.

"What's the usual?" Larry asked as Keith went to fill the orders.

"Oh, burger with pickles and ketchup, order of cheese fries, onion rings, and a Coke." Peyton informed him.

"We eat here almost everyday and we usually stick to the same stuff." Lucas said.

"Well, you two just have your own little routine don't you?" Larry asked earning nods from both teens.

"Uh, Dad there's something I- uh, we need to tell you." Peyton started.

"And what's that?"

"Well, you know Lucas and I have been friends since forever..." Larry nodded. "Well, we're um.."

"We're dating." Lucas blurted while Peyton shot him a look.

"No kidding." Larry said.

"Huh?" Peyton asked turning back to her father with a confused look.

"No offense kids, but you weren't exactly descreet about it." He said.

"Well ..uh... how did you-" Peyton stuttered.

"I saw you in the car outside the house." He said, causing the two to blush. "And Lucas' shirt was on backwards when he left the house the morning, and I'm not an idiot."

Lucas chuckled lightly, he got dressed so quickly, he barely noticed his shirt was backwards. _Idiot_, he thought. "And you're not surprised, shocked, anything?" Peyton asked.

"No, it was bound to happen."

"And you're okay with it?"

"Why wouldn't I be? Lucas is like a son to me, you've known each other forever, I'm happy for you." And with that Peyton breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks Dad."

"Mhm, now if you'd excuse me, I have to use the restroom." Larry said getting up from the table and heading to the back.

"See, now that wasn't so bad now was it?" Lucas asked after Larry left.

"No, I guess not." She said smiling. "You do realize he saw us making out in your car right?" She said, blushing.

"So what?"

"That doesn't gross you out, its my dad!"

"Oh come on, would you rather him think you were a prude?"

"Well, yeah! _He's my dad_!" She emphasized the last part, slowly.

"We established that already, now look, its over and done with and now we don't have to hide from your dad." He said taking her hand in his, lacing his fingers through hers.

"Yeah, you're right." She said nodding.

"I'm always right." He said pressing a kiss to her temple before tilting her chin up with his finger to brush his lips against hers.

---------------

Meanwhile...

Brooke Davis and her latest flunky, Theresa were having a conversation on a bench outside the Cafe when Lucas and Peyton had pulled up and walked into the Cafe to meet her father for dinner.

"Ugh, can you believe those two?" Therese commented.

"Who?" Brooke asked.

"Lucas and Peyton, walking around holding hands, kissing, its enough to make me want to gag."

"Yeah whatever."

"I don't see what he sees in her, I mean to dump you for that..."

"I get it, Theresa." Brooke interupted. "Whatever, Lucas Scott is totally off my radar."

"Yeah right."

"What was that?"

"He is so not your radar Brooke, whenever you see them together you tense up and send them the death glare."

"Yeah well, he had his chance and he gave it up for that fake blonde."

"And it pisses you off that she got him and you didn't."

"Shut up Theresa. I could have Lucas Scott if I wanted him." Brooke said as she eyed Lucas and Peyton through the Cafe window. _What does she have, that I don't besides a horrible dye job?_ Brooke though as she cringed at the site of him kissing her.

"You do want him." Theresa muttered. She was right, Brooke did want Lucas, she didn't know why exactly, all she knew was she wanted him and she didn't want that bean-pole blonde to have him.

"I need a drink." She mumbled before getting up and heading for the nearest bar.

-----------

AN: Okay, I'm not really happy with this chapter, but oh well. I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but with school starting up, I really don't have a lot of free time, but I despise authors who don't finish their work, so I will finish! No worries there. Now, you probably get the sense of where I'm going with the Brooke thing...but that won't happen for a few chapter, I'm just setting the scene now. And right now, I've hit a bump in the road, I know where I want it to go, but I don't know how to get it there, so now whatever happens is off the top of my head. Bare with me, and I apoligize for the spelling errors, or continuity issues, but my Word trial expired and I don't have spell check lol.

Hope you're still reading!!!


	26. Chapter 26

Sorry if some of you read this already, I know one person at least did ..but I had to erase it and edit it ..forgot to add something. Sorry for the inconvenience.

------

"So, I'll see you tomorrow?" Lucas asked as Peyton and Larry were about to leave the Cafe and head home.

"Yeah, I'll call you later." Peyton said kissing him on the cheek.

"What kind of goodbye was that?" Lucas teased, acting offended.

"My dad's right over there." Peyton hissed.

"Yeah, but his back is towards us and its not like he doesn't know anything...now come here." He said, grabbing her waist and pulling her forward. He gently planted his lips on hers for one hell of a good-bye kiss. They pulled back and smiled at each other.

"You look happy." Lucas commented.

"I am. Its nice to have my dad home, I missed him." She said, staring at her dad as he talked to Keith. "Plus, I have you, so I'm just a bucket of happiness."

"Aw, Peyt." Lucas teased, putting a hand to his heart. "I'm so touched."

Peyton laughed. "Hm..your mom doesn't come back til Monday right?" She said suggestively.

"Yeah..."

"That means your house is going to be empty tomorrow, just you, all alone." She said suggestively.

"Well, you'll just have to come by and keep my company."

"I guess so." She said as he pulled her into a hug.

"God, I love you." He whispered into her hair.

"I love you too." She said before he pulled her in for one of those mind-numbing kisses he was so good at.

"Ok, I'll see you later Keith." Peyton heard Larry saying as she quickly pulled away from Lucas. "Ready to go sweetheart?" Larry asked.

"Yeah." Peyton said, wiping her mouth slightly.

"Night Luke, bye Keith." Peyton said with a wave as she and Larry left the Cafe.

"Luke, when you decide to help me clean up..." Keith teased as he eyed Lucas who hadn't taken his eyes off the spot where Peyton just departed from.

"Huh?" Lucas said, turning around.

"You got it bad, kid." Keith said, shaking his head with a chuckle. "Come on, lets get these tables cleaned."

"Yea, yea, you're just jealous 'cause my mom's not home." Lucas commented.

"Haha, funny." Keith said sarcastically as they finished cleaning up and went home.

-----------

"He did what?!" Peyton exclaimed as she and Haley were hanging out in her room.

"He kissed me." Haley repeated.

"Nathan Scott kissed you." Peyton said, clearly in shock.

"Uh-huh." Haley said as she threw herself back onto Peyton's bed.

"Okay, I need all the details, every last one." Peyton said as she sat down on the bed next to Haley.

"Uhm, well, you told me to ask him if he wanted to hang out, so I did and he said yes, so we went down to the River Walk last night and walked around and talked and whatever and when he dropped me off, before I got out of the car, he kissed me." Haley said, rather quickly.

"What did he say?"

"I said goodbye, and he pulled me back and kissed me and then he said goodnight."

"And what did you say?"

"Nothing, I-I just- I froze, I didn't know what to do, I muttered something and practically ran into my house."

"Well, did you _want_ him to kiss you?" Peyton said.

"I don't know. I mean, I've been tutoring him for a while and I've gotten to know him really well, and I like him and obviously he likes me so ... I guess I did."

"Have you heard from him since last night?" Peyton asked.

"He called me this morning and asked if I wanted to get coffee tonight."

"Coffee is good, coffee is the typical pre-first date beverage of choice. He is so asking you out tonight!" Peyton all but squealed the last part.

"Oh god." Haley muttered, falling back onto the bed once again.

"So, how was it?"

"How was what?" Haley asked looking up at Peyton.

"The kiss, dummy."

Haley bit her bottom lip and blushed a bit at the memory of the kiss. "It was nice, as far as kisses go, it was fairly above average."

"And we are talking about the same Nathan Scott right?"

"Yes!"

"Ok, calm down." Peyton put her hands up in defense. "He surely has changed."

"Yeah, he has. I really like him, Peyt."

"Aw, well good for you Hales." She said pulling her friend into a one-armed hug.

"What am I go going to wear?!" Haley asked as realization dawned on her.

"What's who going to wear?" Lucas asked as he appeared in the doorway.

"Haley has a date with Nathan tonight." Peyton chirped.

"Oh." He furrowed his brows. "..is that good?" He asked.

"Yes it is!" Peyton said, glaring at Lucas.

"Hi, Lucas, how are you? Oh I'm fine Peyton, thanks for asking." Lucas said sarcastically.

"Sorry, baby." Peyton said, getting up to properly greet her boyfriend.

"Your forgiven." He said as Peyton leaned up to kiss him, ignoring the fake gagging noises Haley was making from the bed.

"I'm still here you know!" Haley said.

"We know." Peyton said, still staring up at Lucas.

"God, ya know, the honeymoon phase should be over by now!" Haley exclaimed. "You guys are nauseating."

"Nah." Lucas said.

"You just wait, if all goes according to plan with Nathan, me and Lucas won't be the only two in the honeymoon phase." Peyton commented, the last part she said in a sing-songy voice.

"Peyton, can I- uh talk to you for a minute." Larry asked as he appeared behind Lucas.

"Uh, yeah sure Dad." Peyton said nodding. "Be right back, guys."

---------

"What's up?" Peyton asked as she and her father went downstairs and sat at the kitchen table.

"Well, I have good news, and I have bad news. Which do you want first?"

"What is it Daddy?"

"The good news is, I got a new job, its pays more and the trips are shorter."

"And the bad news..." Peyton asked, sensing where this was going.

"The boat leaves first thing tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow? But you just got here." Peyton said as a dissappointed look spread across her face.

"Yeah, but its only for a few weeks."

"A few weeks? You pass it off like its nothing! A lot can change in a few weeks, Dad!" She stood up from the table. "Its bad enough my mother's dead, now I have to deal with you being gone all the time. You just came back after being gone for months and now you're leaving again!" Peyton shouted.

"Do not raise your voice like that when you're talking to me, young lady! I am still your father" Larry yelled, standing up as well.

"But you're not, are you? God knows where my real father is." Peyton commented.

"Peyton." Larry warned.

"No, forget it, just leave, go back to work, obviously you care more about that damn job than me anyway. Ya know what? When you leave, don't bother coming back this time!" Peyton yelled as she stomped out of the house and slammed the door. Larry sighed and plopped down in the chair, running a hand over his face.

"What happened?" Lucas said as he and Haley walked down the stairs.

"I just told Peyton I have to go back to work tonight and she stormed off."

"Oh." Lucas couldn't think of anything else to say. "We'll go find her." And with that he and Haley left the Sawyer house in search of Peyton.

-------------

"Where could she have gone?" Haley asked as she and Lucas walked down the driveway towards his car.

"Uh-I don't know... last time she was this upset she went to the cemetary, we could check there."

"Okay." Haley said as the two got in the car.

-------------

"Okay, well that was a bust." Haley said as they left the cemetary, Peyton wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Where else would she go?"

Lucas exhaled a breath that he didn't know he was holding. "I don't even know." He said shaking his head with a heavy sigh. "We could check back around the cafe, and if not there, maybe my house?"

"Okay." Haley agreed nodding.

They drove to the Cafe and got out of the car to look inside.

"Hey Keith?" Lucas called as they entered.

"Oh hey kids, whats up?" Keith said, emerging from the kitchen.

"Have you seen Peyton?" Haley asked.

Keith shook his head. "No, why? Everything okay?"

"Uh, I hope so." Lucas said.

"What happened?" Keith said walking toward them.

"Uh, long story short ...she and Larry had a fight and she stormed out of the house, and we can't seem to find her." Haley informed him.

"Well, did you check the house, Luke?" Keith asked.

Lucas shook his head and let out a breath. "That was going to be our next stop. We checked the cemetary and she wasn't there either."

"Okay, well you go check the house and I'll keep an eye out for her." Keith said.

"Alright, thanks Keith." Haley said as she and Lucas went back to the car to continue their search.

They went by Lucas' house to look for her there, but didn't see any sign of her. They got back in the car.

"God where the hell could she be?" Lucas said punching the steering wheel.

"Calm down, Luke, we'll find her." Haley said putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I've never heard her yell like that, Hales, she was so angry." He said staring straight ahead.

"Well could you blame her?"

"No, I guess not."

"Wait a second..." Haley said after a moment of silence.

Lucas turned to look at her. "What?"

"One time when Peyton and I were walking near the bridge, she mentioned something about sitting under it sometimes when she needed to think."

"You think she went there?" Lucas asked.

"Its worth a shot." Haley said as Lucas put the car in drive and headed for the bridge.

And sure enough, there was Peyton, sitting on the cold concrete under the bridge.

"Thank God." Lucas whispered as they got out of the car and walked toward her. She was sitting against the wall, knees pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around them with her head buried in her knees. She obviously didn't see them.

Neither Lucas nor Haley said a word, they just walked over and sat down on either side of her. They sat there in silence for a while.

"I used to come here with my mom." Peyton whispered, breaking the silence that engulfed them. "When I was little, she used to say it was our secret place." Lucas wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to his body and Haley dropped her head onto Peyton's shoulder and put her arm through hers.

"Why doesn't he ever stay with me?" Peyton spoke barely above a whisper, after a few minutes of silence, tears instantly filling her eyes.

"Its his job, Peyt. I'm sure he doesn't want to leave." Lucas said, putting his chin on top of hers as she leaned her head on his shoulder. Peyton scoffed at his reply.

"Well maybe he should put his own daughter before his fucking job for once in his life." Peyton said leaning away from Lucas, standing up and walking a few feet away.

Lucas and Haley watched her before turning towards each other and silently agreeing to follow her.

"Peyton..." Haley started but Peyton cut her off.

"Its bad enough I lost my own mother, but now I'm essentially losing my father too."

"No, your not. He's your father and he loves you Peyton." Haley said.

"He's got a hell of a way of showing it." Peyton commented coldly.

"Peyton, I know your upset, and you have a right to be but-" Lucas said, trying his best to comfort her.

"No, Lucas, you don't know! You have a mother, and you have Keith, you have so many people who love you-" Peyton said as the tears that had been threatening to fall did just that.

"And so do you." Haley said, trying to calm her down. "You have me, and you have Lucas, and whether you want to believe it or not, you have your father."

"Then why the hell does he always have to leave? People always leave." Peyton said, the last part coming out as a whisper.

"People don't always leave, Peyt." Lucas said gently. "Last time I checked, I'm still here, and so is Haley and your other friends." He finished, walking over to her, gently wiping a stray tear off her cheek with his thumb.

"Yeah?" Peyton challenged bitterly. "And how long until all of you leave? How long til I lose both of you and everyone else in my life, huh?" She spat, moving away from him.

Lucas grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "Peyton, you will **never** lose me, or Haley. Never." He told her. "You're my world, Peyton, I would never leave you." He finished with a determined look on his face, which turned into a small smile.

"That's what my mom said." She said quietly. She moved away again and shook her head "Ya know, I had a feeling when he came home early that he was going to tell me he was leaving again." Peyton said bitterly after a moment.

"Peyton, stop." Haley said walking closer to her. "Your dad loves you, he's just trying to support his family."

"Or what's left of it." Peyton spat.

"You said your mom used to take you here right?" Haley asked.

Peyton nodded. "Okay, well, don't you think she might be watching you right now? Do you really think she wants to see you like this?" Haley asked as Peyton shook her head. "I know you may be angry at your Dad right now, and you have a right to be, but your mom wouldn't like seeing you like this."

At the thought of her mother, all of Peyton's emotions went on overdrive and she broke down, falling to the ground, sobbing heavily.

Lucas couldn't bear to see the sight of his girlfriend in pain, he instantly walked closer to her and knelt down next to her, taking the broken girl in his arms. Haley just stood and watched them. They stayed that way for a while longer before Peyton's cries subsided.

"You okay?" Lucas asked softly as she pulled back.

She sniffled and let out a small, uneasy chuckle. "No, I'm not." She said shaking her head slightly. "But I guess I will be. God I'm such a mess." She said wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"No you're not." Lucas whispered, placing a small kiss to her forehead.

"Thank you, Luke." Peyton said looking him in the eye for the first time since they arrived. "And you too, Hales." She said turning towards her friend.

"Don't mention it." Lucas said. "Come on, lets get you home." He said standing up, pulling Peyton with him as she nodded. Haley walked over and put an arm around Peyton and pulled her in for a short one-armed hug and the three walked back to Lucas' car.

-------------------

AN: I know, I know, you all hate me for the lack of updates ...but with school starting, its been really hectic ..and my brain has been under immense torture ..this year is going to be hell.

So, I personally love this chapter, and I don't know why, I hope it didn't suck. I'm trying to get the updates up as fast as I can. But I kinda re-worked my entire story and changed all my ideas so I could prolong it a bit...because if it went the way I originally planned, next chapter would have been the last ..but I figured I'd make it longer for all of you :) Hope you enjoyed it.


	27. Chapter 27

"You guys hungry?" Lucas asked as he, Haley and Peyton sat in the car driving the streets of Tree Hill. "We could stop at the Cafe before it closes."

Peyton nodded. "Yeah, I-uh- I really don't feel like facing my Dad right now, plus I'm starving."

"Doesn't surprise me." Lucas and Haley both said simultaneously and laughed.

"Thanks a lot, guys." Peyton said sarcastically.

"No problem." Haley joked as they pulled up to the Cafe and got out.

They walked into the cafe and were greeted by Keith's relieved face.

"Oh thank god." He sighed. "You found her."

"Yes the M.I.A. Peyton Sawyer is now ...N.M.I.A." Haley said earning confused expressions from the other three people. "Not Missing In Action." She explained before taking a seat at the counter, Lucas following her actions.

"Ah, gotcha." Keith said nodding.

"I'm sorry for worrying you guys." Peyton said also sitting down at the counter. "I just needed to clear my head."

"Yeah, just next time you need to clear your head, tell someone where you're going." Keith said.

"Promise." Peyton said.

"Okay, what can I get you guys?" Keith asked stepping behind the counter.

"Uh, burger, fries, the usual." Lucas said.

"Make that two." Peyton said.

"Yeah that sounds good, make it three." Haley added.

"Alright, three burgers with fries, coming right up." Keith said before retreating to the kitchen.

Lucas turned to Peyton. "So, what are you going to do? With your Dad, I mean." He asked calmly.

Peyton stared straight ahead. "Honestly?" She turned towards him. "I really don't know."

"You can't hide from him forever." Haley said from her spot on the other side of Peyton.

"I know that, but I'm just really upset with him right now, I don't even know what to say to him. He's going to take that job no matter what I say anyway, what's the difference?" Peyton said, lowering her head and playing with her hands.

Lucas put his hands on hers to stop her from fidgeting. "Don't be so pessimistic, Peyt. You have to talk to him, tell him how you really feel and take it from there." He told her.

"I told him how I felt already." She muttered.

"You screamed at him, thats not talking." Lucas commented. "Look, he leaves in a few hours, why don't I drive you home when we finish eating so you can talk." He suggested.

"Okay." She said.

"Good." He said leaning over to kiss her cheek just as Keith was bringing out the food.

"Okay kids, keep the PDA to a minimum, this is a place of buisness." Keith joked.

Lucas looked around. "Oh yeah, because there's so many customers here." He joked sarcastically, the place was empty except for Lucas, Haley, Peyton and Keith. They all laughed.

They finished eating and Lucas drove Haley home before heading over to Peyton's to drop her off so she could talk things out with Larry.

-------------

Peyton took a deep breath as they pulled up in front of her house.

"Relax." Lucas told her, rubbing soothing circles on the back of her hand which was clasped in his. "Just talk to him, everything will be alright."

"Easy for you to say." She mumbled, placing her hand on the door handle, but not moving to open it.

"You just gonna sit there and stare at the house or are you going to go in?" Lucas asked as he watched Peyton, who was still sitting still.

She took another deep breath. "Ok, I'm going." She still didn't move. "I really am." She said, still not moving.

"Want me to go with you?" Lucas asked as Peyton breathed a sigh of relief.

"I thought you'd never ask." She said causing Lucas to chuckle.

"Ok, come on." He said getting out of the car.

He walked over to Peyton and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze. "It'll be okay." He whispered in her ear as they started walking towards the house.

"Dad?" She called softly as she entered the dark house. They walked into the living room and saw no sign of Larry so they continued to the kitchen. "Dad?"

"Uh, Peyt?" Lucas called from the kitchen table, holding a note which had Larry's handwriting on it.

"What is it?" She asked walking over to where Lucas stood. She grabbed the letter and read it to herself, when she finished she dropped herself onto the nearest chair as tears filled her eyes. "He left." She muttered in disbelief.

"What's it say?" Lucas asked before taking the note from her.

_Dear Peyton,_

_I know your angry with me, and I know this is hard on you but I need to take this job right now, and you have every right to be upset with me, but I'll be back in a few weeks and after that I won't be leaving for a long time. I decided it would be easier if I just left to save some trouble. You mean the world to me Peyton, I just hope one day you can forgive me._

_Love always, Dad._

"He left for the job..." She sniffled. "He didn't even say goodbye."

"God, Peyton I'm so sorry." He said taking her hand in his.

"I told you he didn't care." She muttered bitterly.

"Peyton, you know that's not true."

"He just left!" She exclaimed. "And he leaves a stupid note, he didn't even have the decency to tell me in person! I was upset with him before, but now I'm furious" She screamed as the tears started falling. Lucas walked over and tried putting his arms around her but she pushed him away. "No, just- God why does this always happen?!"

"Peyton-" Lucas started, walking closer to her. She tried pushing him away, but her efforts were futile and he wrapped his arms around her and whispered soothing words in her ear as she cried.

---------------------

AN: You all hate me don't you? I'm incredibly sorry for the lack of updates, but its so hard to find the time with school, its driving me slowly but surely out of my mind, and I really need to concentrate on it. But as I said, I despise people who leave their work unfinished, so don't worry, this story WILL get finished eventually ... but I have lots more in store for you, don't worry lol. But I decided to re-work most of it and now I'm just working out the kinks in it. Hope it didn't suck )


	28. Chapter 28

"Bad day?" Brooke heard as she plopped down on a stool at the bar with a huff.

"You could say that." She muttered, ordering a drink and not bothering to look at the girl.

"What's got your thong in a twist?" She asked.

"Why the hell do you care?" She said turning to face her. The girl was tall, leggy, thin and had redish brown hair.

"Just a question, calm down." She said, putting her hands up in defense.

"Yeah well, as I said, my day's really sucking, so if you don't mind, I have better things to do with my time."

"Like what? Sitting alone, in a bar, at 8:30?" She asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Yes, actually. It beats watching my ex-boyfriend and his new whore walking around all 'lovey dovey'."

"Ouch. Did you really like this guy?"

"Yeah, I did but apparently he's more into fake blonde hoes." Brooke spat bitterly.

"Why'd you break up?"

"Not important." Brooke dismissed the question, knowing the answer couldn't help her case whatsoever.

"Uh-huh." The red-head said slowly. "I've been there, break up with a guy I could have liked, but apparently, I wasn't good enough. So I decided that from that day on, I wasn't going to do relationships anymore, now I'm strictly about the sex."

"Yeah, I used to be, but then I met him and I don't know, there was something about him, and then I made one mistake, a drunken one, and he dumped me."

"What kind of mistake?"

"I slept with his brother." Brooke said dryly, taking a long sip of her drink and turning away from the red-head, who nodded slowly.

"And what'd you do about it?"

"I tried explaining, but he wouldn't listen, I bet you that Walking Anorexia Ad had something to do with it." Brooke said, referring to Peyton. "Now I don't stand a chance."

"I may be new around here, but from I hear, your the Big Bitch on Campus."

"Who are you?" Brooke asked, emphasizing the middle word.

"Rachel Gattina." She informed Brooke. "I transferred a few days ago, but haven't made the time to actually go to school yet. But I've done my research, and apparently your the girl that other girls want to be and guys want to be with." Rachel said. "Now, compared to me, you look like Ashlee Simpson, before the nose job and Anna Nicole before Trim-Spa, but you probably have a lot on blondie."

Brooke scoffed at her comments. 'Who does this girl think she is?' Brooke asked herself.

"Now, it looks to me that you have the kind of mentality where if you can't have him, no one else can and the fact that she got him and you didn't makes you crazy."

"What th-" Brooke started.

"I wasn't finished." Rachel cut her off. "Now, if you're really the girl I've heard about, I'm pretty sure you can get the guy back and by the end of the week he'll be saying 'Blondie who?'"

"Her name's Peyton. And his name's Lucas." Brooke informed her.

"Ah, okay. Now, do you really want to prove everyone wrong and get Lucas back?" Brooke nodded. "Well, then here's what you're going to do..."

--------------

Peyton awoke the next morning in her bed, she didn't remember how she got there until she felt the arm securely wrapped around her waist. She had cried herself to sleep the night before and Lucas apparently carried her up to her room and stayed with her. She turned in his arms so she could face him, he was still sound asleep. She brought a hand up to his face and traced a finger along the edge of his jaw, down to his chin and his cheek. Before long, he stirred and Peyton was met with two piercing blue eyes.

"Morning." He mumbled, still a bit groggy.

"Hi." Peyton replied in a small voice.

Lucas yawned. "Mm..what time is it?" He asked.

"A little after six."

"In the morning?"

Peyton chuckled. "Yeah."

"Why are you up so early?" He asked.

"I don't know. I woke up a few minutes ago and couldn't go back to sleep." Lucas nodded.

"You okay?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"Not really." She said truthfully. "But I will be."

"You will." He agreed. "Well, we have a few hours before school, and since neither one of us is going back to sleep anytime soon, want to head to the Cafe for breakfast?" He asked sitting up a bit.

"Yeah, sure." She said.

"Alright, let's get moving." He said getting up.

--------------

"You're quiet this morning." Lucas commented as he and Peyton sat at the counter of the Cafe. They got there twenty minutes ago and Peyton only spoke when she ordered. Now she was sitting there playing with her eggs.

"Huh?" She asked looking up from her plate.

Lucas exhaled. "Nothing. You sure you're okay?"

Peyton dropped her fork on her plate which landed with a loud cling. "Yes! Would you just stop asking me that?" She said, rather loudly.

Lucas looked around at the other costumers who were now staring in their direction. "Peyton, calm down okay? I'm just worried about you."

"Well, you have nothing to be worried about, I'm fine." She said emotionless.

"No you're not." Lucas said. "We've been here for almost a half hour and you've barely said two words."

"So? I'm not in a talkative mood." She said and when she saw him open his mouth to speak she interupted him. "Just back off, Lucas." She spat.

"Peyton-"

"Look, I have to go do something, I'll see you at school." And as quickly as she said that, she was out the door, leaving Lucas to stare at the door with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"What the hell just happened?" He asked himself.

-------------

"Hey girly." Haley said as she spotted Peyton by her locker.

"Hi." Peyton replied, not looking at her.

"You're here early." Haley commented. "Where's your other half?"

"I don't know." Peyton said, still looking inside her locker.

"What's up with you this morning?" Haley asked, leaning against the adjacent locker.

"Nothing." Peyton sighed, shutting her locker and turning to face Haley.

"Are you okay?"

"God! Will everyone just stop asking me that?" Peyton said, throwing her arms up in the air.

"Look, Peyton I'm just-"

"Worried about me?" Peyton finished for her.

"Yeah, I am." Haley said. "How'd things go with your Dad?"

"Oh, you didn't hear? Yeah, he left for his new job, apparently that's more important to him than his own daughter."

"You didn't talk to him?"

"He left before I even got home."

"Oh, Peyton, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah well, I give up, ya know? Obviously, he doesn't care enough to stick around for more than a day, so I give up, I've been doing fine on my own and I don't need him." Peyton said before walking away.

"What was that about?" Nathan asked, coming up behind Haley.

"Oh, uh, Peyton family drama." Haley said turning to face him.

"Oh, she okay?" He asked as they began walking down the hall.

"Is Nathan Scott showing genuine concern?" Haley teased.

"Hey, I may have been an ass to her, but I do care about her."

"Yeah, she'll be okay... I hope."

"Alright. Uhm, so we're still going out for coffee right?"

"Yeah, we are." Haley said nodding.

"Cool." He said.

"Yeah."

"Uh.. walk you to English?" Nathan asked.

"Sure." Haley nodded.

---------------

"Hey Broody." Brooke said, walking up to where Lucas sat at a bench in the quad.

"Uh-hey Brooke." He said skeptically.

"Don't worry, I come in peace." She said, chuckling as she sat down next to him.

"Okay." He said staring ahead of him.

"So, how've you been?"

"Fine, I guess."

"That's good." Brooke said. "How are things going with basketball?"

"Good." Lucas answered, still not quite clear of Brooke's intentions.

"That's good." She said, trying to ignore the awkwardness of this situation. "I love that book." She said referring to the tattered copy of The Great Gatsby Lucas was holding in his hand.

"Me too."

"I think its actually the only book I've ever read cover to cover that didn't have pictures in it." She joked trying to break the awkwardness.

Lucas just chuckled at her comment.

Brooke bit her lip. "Look, Lucas, I'm just going to be honest with you."

Lucas looked up at her before she continued. "I miss you. I miss hanging out with you, and I know you're with Peyton now and everything and I know I'm not your favorite person, but I was kinda hoping, we could ... be friends or at least try and not be enemies?"

_Flashback_

_"Here's what you're going to do. You're going to befriend Lucas, get on his good side, make Penny-" Rachel said._

_"Peyton." Brooke corrected._

_"Whatever. Make her nice and jealous, and as time passes, you get more and more friendly with him, and voila instant payback and if all goes according to plan, instant boyfriend." Rachel finished._

_End Flashback_

"Uh- I don't know Brooke-"

"I figured you'd say that. Look, I know I've made mistakes, and I hurt you ... and Peyton and I'm so sorry, but I would really love it if you would consider it. Please?"

"Okay." Lucas said, nodding.

"Okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. Look, Brooke, what happened between us was a long time ago and it would be nice to be friends."

"Really?" Brooke didn't know it would be that easy.

"Yeah."

"What about Peyton?" Brooke asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I'm not her favorite person right now."

"Why?" Brooke asked, but not because she was genuinely concerned.

"Uh, her dad came back from his job, they had a fight, he left without telling her ... then this morning she just blew up at me and hasn't talked to me since."

"Oh, well she's just upset, give her time."

"I'm trying, its not that easy."

"From the minimal amount of time I spent with her, she seems like the type that likes to keep things inside." Lucas nodded. "So, she'll come around in her own time."

"I hope so, thanks Brooke."

"No problem. Look, I gotta go, see you later?"

"Sure." He said as she walked away. Truth was, he didn't hate Brooke, he hated what she did to him, but for the short time they were together she showed him that she was a good person. If he only knew...

--------

AN: I know, you all want to kill me for being a horrible updater, but this school year is brutal, i barely have time for anything. And I'm trying my best to include some Naley in the story due to popular demand, as you'll see in the next few chapters. And also, last chapter got like 3 reviews, now did it really suck or are you just too lazy to review? Because reviews feed my motivation, so if i dont get them, I get lazy and I dont write. Also, with the Brooke/Rachel drama, its probably going to develop slowly, because I have something else that I want to fit in before I get to that ..so bare with me. And I hope Rachel being introduced doesn't anger any of you, because I personally love her.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!! Come on, you know you want to hit that pretty purple button and leave me a nice long babbling-review.


	29. Chapter 29

"Hey Peyton!" Lucas called as he spotted Peyton walking down the hall at school. He hadn't talked to her since breakfast, and she had been avoiding him like the plague.

Peyton cringed as she heard her name being called. He found her. She reluctantly turned around to face the blonde as he walked up to her.

"Hi." She said, apparently amazed by her shoes, since she hadn't taken her eyes off them.

"Hey." He said. "Are yo- How are you?" He corrected, remembering why she blew up at him this morning.

"Fine." She said, meeting his eyes for the first time.

"I'm sorry." They both said simultaneously, causing them to laugh.

"Ladies first." Lucas said.

"I'm sorry about before, I didn't mean to snap at you like that." Peyton said.

"Don't worry about it, you were upset." Lucas told her. "So, are we okay?" He asked.

"Definitely." Peyton said, nodding.

"Good, because this whole 'giving you space' thing was really starting to suck." Lucas said with a chuckle as they started walking.

Peyton laughed. "Giving me space?"

"Yeah, I've known you long enough to know that when you're upset you like to be alone, even Brooke knew that."

Peyton stopped dead in her tracks when she heard Brooke's name. "Brooke?" She asked.

"Yeah." Lucas said.

"You were talking to Brooke?" Peyton asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"Yeah, she uh- she wants to be friends." Lucas said carefully.

"Friends? With the slut who slept with your brother while you were together?"

"Peyton." Lucas said. "She's trying to make amends for her actions."

"Oh that's original." Peyton scoffed.

"Peyt-"

"No, far be it from me to stop you from becoming best buddies with a cheating whore."

"Peyton stop, okay?" He said before he took a deep breath. "Look, I'm not an idiot, I know what kind of person Brooke is...or was. But I think she really meant it, and maybe you should try being more accepting of people."

"More accepting? Don't give me that..." She scoffed "..and why are you defending her?" She said, her voice raising slightly.

"I'm not defending her.."

"Well you could've fooled me. How can you even think about speaking to her after what she's done to me?"

"All I'm saying is that maybe Brooke is trying to be a better person."

"Fine, Luke, do what you want. I have to go, I promised Haley I would help her with something in the Tutor Center." Peyton said as she walked away.

'Okay, that's twice in one day.' Lucas thought to himself.

------------------

After storming down the hall, Peyton turned the corner into the tutor center and thankfully Haley was just finishing up with one of her ''students''.

"Hey girlie." Haley cheerfully greeted Peyton as she walked through the door. She walked over to the table Haley was standing next to, dropped her bag and plopped down on the chair with an angry huff. "Ok... what's up with you?" Haley asked, her cheerful mood now turned to a more serious one.

"Brooke." Peyton said, unemotionally. "Brooke Penelope Davis is 'what's up'" She finished with another huff.

"Care to elaborate-" Haley could barely get the sentence out by the time Peyton spoke again.

"Ya know, just once... just once I would love for my life to actually go the way I planned. I am so sick and tired of this shit."

"Still not clear on what you're getting at, Peyt."

"Well apparently Brooke woke up this morning and thought 'hm let's screw with Lucas and Peyton today'."

"Okay! Can you just stop being so damn vague and get to the point!" Haley suddenly exclaimed, earning a surprised look from her not-so-happy friend. "Sorry." Haley said in a small voice.

"Yeah.. Brooke wants to be 'friends' with Lucas all of a sudden.." Haley brows raised. "Yeah, you haven't even heard the best part yet ... Lucas actually thinks she's being 'sincere'." Peyton finished, air quoting the last word.

"Well maybe she is."

"Oh not you too!" Peyton said with an exhasperated sigh, shaking her head.

"Look, all I'm saying is if Lucas thinks she is, then its quite possible that she is. Lucas has really good judgement when it comes to that stuff, you know that."

"Why are you taking his side?!"

"I'm not taking sides... Look, do you trust Lucas?" Haley asked seriously.

"You know I do." Peyton told her.

"Well trust him now, he knows what he's doing." Haley said.

"But-"

"No buts Peyton, just trust him, talk to him, all you've been doing is yelling, you just need to talk it all out"

"Okay." Peyton nodded.

"Good ... and my coffee date with Nathan went great, thanks for asking." Haley said sarcastically.

"Oh sorry, how'd that go?"

"Really well ... I really like him, Peyton ...pardon the cliche, but the way I feel when he's around is ..so much different from anything I've ever felt before."

"I'm glad, Hales, you deserve it. If he pulls anything, Lucas and I will totally kick his ass for you."

"Oh gee, thanks." Haley joked. "Listen ... he kinda, sorta asked me out ... like for a real date."

"That's awesome."

"Yeah but I'm kinda nervous about it." Haley admitted.

"That's understandable."

"You think maybe ... youandLucaswouldgoonadoubledatewithus?" Haley said all too quickly for anyone, let alone Peyton to understand.

"Wait... slow down, and say that again, preferably in English." Peyton said.

"Would you and Lucas go on a double date with us this weekend?" Haley asked again.

"Uh.." Peyton started, unsurely.

"Pleaseeee, Peyton." Haley pleaded. "I'll do you Trig homework for the next week, if you do this for me."

"I don't know Hales, that's a little awkward, don't ya think? Me and my current boyfriend slash brother of your current boyfriend who also happens to be my ex going on a double date together?"

"Okay, the way you say it makes it sound like we live in some cheesey teen drama on television." Haley joked. "Please! Come on, think about all the favors I've done for you in the past... you owe me."

"Ugh.. fine!" Peyton said, finally caving in.

"Thank you so much Peyt-" Haley was interupted by the ring of Peyton's phone.

"Hold that thought." Peyton said, holding a hand up and getting up to take the call outside the room.

"Hello?" Peyton spoke into the phone. "Yes, this is Peyton... oh my God.." She exclaimed, choking back a sob. "Where is he? ... Yes .. I'll-uh- I'll be right there." She quickly closed her phone and ran back into the tutor center, tears filling her eyes.

* * *

AN: Oh come on, you know I couldn't go the rest of the story without a cliffhanger ...even if it is a semi-lame one. So, drama is coming obviously. Fun fun fun. And you know, reviews feed my motivation to write, so if you know what's good for you, you'll review. Pretty pretty please. 


	30. Chapter 30

"Can I get you anything?" Haley asked as she sat beside Peyton in the hospital waiting room. Peyton was sitting, curled up in a ball, trying her best not to breakdown in tears.

Peyton shook her head, more tears falling down her face. "I'm fine." was her mono-tone answer.

"Okay...are you sure there isn't anything you need?"

"Need? What I need is for him to be okay, Haley..." She sobbed. "I just need him to be okay." Haley quickly pulled Peyton into her arms and held her while she finally let loose the emotions she had been holding in for the past twenty minutes.

FLASHBACK

_"Hello?" Peyton spoke into the phone. "Yes, this is Peyton... oh my God.." She exclaimed, choking back a sob. "Where is he? ... Yes .. I'll-uh- I'll be right there." She quickly closed her phone and ran back into the tutor center, tears filling her eyes._

_Haley's head quickly shot up as Peyton came rushing back into the tutor center and started gathering her stuff._

_"Peyton?" Haley asked confused, then she saw the tears in her eyes. "Oh my god, what happened?"_

_More tears fell down her face as she stumbled trying to get all her stuff together. "There was an accident...he-he's hurt , I need to go to the hospital, I need - to see if he- he's okay." She mumbled, not making complete sense._

_Haley quickly stood up from her chair and grabbed her bag. "Wait, who's hurt?"_

_"My dad." Peyton said as she rushed towards the door._

_"Oh god, okay I'll drive you." And with that, the two girls ran out the door and headed off to the hospital._

_------_

_Peyton walked quickly through the sliding doors of Tree Hill Memorial Hospital, not even bothering to wait for Haley. She needed to know that he father was okay. She rushed up to the receptionist's desk._

_"How may I help you?" The short, pudgy, middle aged woman behind the desk asked._

_"My dad, he-uh he was in a car accident-they called me and told me to come down here. I need to see my dad!." Peyton said quickly, still crying._

_"Okay, Miss calm down."_

_"Calm down?" She raised her voice. "Calm down?! How the hell do you expect me to calm down when I don't even know if my own father is alive or dead!" Peyton exclaimed._

_"Miss-"_

_"Peyt, why don't you go sit down and I'll take care of everything alright?" Haley asked as she appeared next to Peyton, who nodded and did what Haley asked._

_"His name is Larry Sawyer, he was in a car accident earlier today." Haley told the receptionist._

_"Ah yes, he was brought in a few hours ago, he's in surgery right now, I'll alert the doctor and tell him Larry's..." The woman looked up at Haley expectantly and nodded towards Peyton._

_"Daughter. She's his daughter, Peyton." Haley answered._

_"Okay, I'll let him know."_

_"Thank you." Haley said as she turned to go sit next to Peyton who was curled up on one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs, staring at the wall with a blank expression on her face while the tears continued to fall._

_"She's paging the doctor now." Haley told her as she sat down next to her._

_"Okay." Was Peyton's mono-syllabic reply. That was the last word to be heard for another half hour._

END FLASHBACK

"Who's here for Larry Sawyer?" A tall, dark-haired doctor who looked to be in his early-forties called out as he entered the half empty waiting room.

Peyton's head shot up from its spot on Haley's shoulder and she quickly made her way over to the doctor. "I'm his daughter. How is he?"

"Unfortunately, not so well right now." The doctor said. "He was involved in a four-car accident earlier today. He shattered his left leg, as well as his right wrist. There were some other minor injuries too, but the one we were most concerned with was his collapsed lung. Now, he's in surgery and we were able to reset some of the fragments of his leg and wrist, and now they're working on the rest. That's all I can tell you at this time."

"But he's going to be okay right? I mean, all of that is fixable." Peyton insisted.

"I'm sorry, Miss Sawyer, but at this point, I really don't know."

"Well figure it out! You're a doctor for God's sake! Fix him!" Peyton yelled.

"I understand you're upset, but we're doing all we can, now if you'll excuse me." The doctor said before walking back to the OR.

"Peyton, he'll be okay, you have to believe that." Haley said as she placed a comforting hand on Peyton's shoulder. Just then, it dawned on Haley, they hadn't called Lucas. "Oh my god, we never called Luke."

"He's probably hanging out with his new buddy, Brooke." Peyton said muttered, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Peyton." Haley said firmly. "That's it. I've had enough of all your sarcasm and your suspicions. Lucas is your boyfriend, he loves you to death, he'd do anything for you, and the sooner you realize that, the better."

"Haley-"

"No. I know your upset, and hello, who wouldn't be in this situation? But you need Lucas, whether you want to admit or not, so I'm going to go call him."

Peyton didn't respond, she just sat down as Haley went outside to use her cell phone.

-----------

Meanwhile...

"Hey Lucas." Nathan said as he walked up to the River Court where Lucas was shooting around, trying to blow off some steam.

"Hi." Lucas said as he shot another basket, and missed.

"You better work on that shot, we got a game coming up, and personally, I don't feel like carrying your ass through the whole game." Nathan joked.

Lucas caught the rebound and walked over to the bleachers."You're funny." He said.

"What's up with you?" Nathan asked while sitting down next to his older brother.

"Nothing." Lucas lied.

"Yeah right." Nathan said. "I saw what happened between you and Peyton earlier."

"Yeah I think the whole student body saw it."

"You're probably right." Nathan said, earning a chuckle from Lucas. "What did happen anyway?"

"Honestly?" Lucas took a breath. "I really don't know. This whole thing with her dad is taking a huge toll on her."

"And you were the easiest target for her to take her frustrations out on." Nathan filled in the blank for him.

"I guess so. But she knows she can talk to me, I'm her boyfriend, not to mention her best friend, I know her better than anyone else." Lucas said, looking down at the ground.

"She'll come around." Nathan assured him.

"I'm not so sure."

"Did you talk to her?"

"I tried, but she just blew me off again." Lucas answered.

"Why?" Nathan asked, turning his head towards Lucas.

"The whole Brooke thing."

"What Brooke thing?"

"Oh, I guess the whole student body didn't hear that one yet. Brooke supposedly had this epiphany, and decided she wants to be my friend, so I told Peyton, and I told her I believed Brooke, and she went off on me."

"Idiot." Nathan scoffed.

"Excuse me?"

"You're an idiot. Did you honestly think that after everything that Peyton's been through the last couple of days, she wanted to hear that you want to be friends with her arch enemy?"

Lucas chuckled. "No, probably not." He admitted. "I'm a real piece of work aren't I?"

"Oh yeah." Nathan said, laughing a bit too.

"Well isn't this weird?" Lucas said after a moment.

Nathan looked up at Lucas "Isn't what weird?" He asked, confused.

"This." He gestured between the two of them. "Us talking about my problems, without throwing any punches. I never saw this coming."

Nathan laughed. "Me either, I guess there's a first time for everything huh?"

Lucas nodded. "Yeah-" He was interrupted by his cell phone ringing.

"Hello?" He asked into the phone. "Oh hey, Hales... oh my god... what? how?... Yeah, I'm on my way." He quickly closed the phone and started towards the car.

"Hey, what's going on?" Nathan asked as he followed Lucas.

"Peyton's dad was in an accident, I have to get to the hospital." He said as he opened the car door.

"I'll go with you." And with that, Nathan and Lucas headed towards the hospital.

* * *

AN: I bet you guys thought it was Lucas, didn't ya? Well it wasn't. And I'm extremely dissappointed with the amount of reviews I got for the last chapter, and that number was like half the number of hits the chapter got ... so either it sucked, or you people are too lazy to review ... and I really need to know which it is. Let me know if you hated it, I can take it, I swear. Tell me what I should or shouldn't do. Just no bashing or I'll hunt you down. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! Come on, why are you still reading this? You should be clicking the purple-y blue button and reviewing! 


	31. Chapter 31

Lucas and Nathan made their way to the hospital as fast as humanly possible. The surprising part was the fact that Nathan was the calm one and Lucas was a mess. Nathan spent the whole car ride trying to calm Lucas' nerves. When they arrived at the hospital Lucas all but jumped out of the car and took off towards the building, Nathan not too far behind.

"Oh thank God you're here." Haley said, getting up from her spot on a chair next to a now sleeping Peyton and walking over to where Lucas and Nathan had just walked in. She then pulled Lucas in for a quick hug.

"Hey, how's Larry?" Lucas asked her as he pulled back.

Haley shook her head. "Not so good right now, but we haven't heard anything for about 20 minutes."

"How is she?" Lucas asked, nodding towards Peyton's sleeping form.

Haley took a breath. "She's… not well either. She's really beating herself up over this and she's pissed off at the world, basically." She told him.

"By the 'world' you mean me don't you?" Lucas asked.

"Luke, its not you, she's just angry. You of all people should know how she gets." Haley said.

"Yeah, she lashes out on everyone when she's upset." Nathan chimed in. Lucas gave him a look. "Hey, I dated her, remember?"

"How could I forget?" Lucas said. "I'm gonna go sit with her." He said.

"Okay. I'm going to go get some coffee." Haley said.

"I'll go with you." Nathan said as he and Haley walked towards the cafeteria.

Lucas walked over to Peyton and sat down next to her. She began to stir as soon as he sat down.

"Hey." He whispered.

Peyton turned around to face him and whispered here reply. "Hi."

They sat like that, staring at each other for a few moments before Peyton sat up and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "I'm sorry."

He hugged her back twice as tight. "For what?" He asked.

"For being such a bitch to you for the past two days." She said as she pulled away.

"Its alright, Peyt. You had every right to be suspicious of Brooke's intentions and to be pissed at me."

"No I really didn't."

"Whatever. It's in the past, it doesn't matter now." Lucas told her.

"Okay." Peyton said, nodding.

"Are you okay?" Lucas asked.

"Not really." Peyton answered truthfully, tears immediately filling her eyes again. She furiously wiped them away with her sleeve. "God I'm such a mess." She chuckled.

"No you're not." He said with a small smile, wiping her tears away with his thumb.

"I just need him to be okay." She whispered.

"And he will be." Lucas said placing a reassuring hand on her back.

"Its my fault." She said after a moment or two.

"What?" Lucas asked, looking down at her.

"Its my fault. If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have been driving so quickly and he wouldn't have been so upset and he wouldn't have gotten hit." She rambled.

"Peyton." Lucas said firmly, tilting her chin up to look at him. "It is not your fault."

"Yes it is." She insisted, moving out of his embrace to stand up from her chair.

He followed her actions, standing up and moving towards her. She stood with her back to him.

"I don't know what I'll do if he doesn't make it. The last thing I said to him was 'don't come back'. I won't be able to live with myself, Luke, I couldn't." She said.

"He'll be fine Peyton, you have to believe that." He told her, walking up behind her, placing his arms around her waist. She let her head fall back on his shoulder.

"He has to be. I need him, Luke. I need my dad." She said, sobbing fully. They stood there for a while before Peyton's sobs quieted down and they sat back down on the chairs.

-----------

Haley and Nathan came back a few minutes later with four cups of coffee. Lucas saw them, but signaled for them to be quiet as not to disturb Peyton, who was sleeping on Lucas' lap.

He slowly got up, carefully maneuvering around so he wouldn't wake her up.

"How is she?" Haley asked as Lucas walked over to them. She handed him his cup.

"She broke down again while you were gone, but I think she got out whatever she was holding in, that usually helps." Lucas informed them. "She blames herself."

"What?" Nathan asked as the three walked over to the chairs and sat down.

"She insists that it's her fault." Lucas repeated.

"Oh god." Haley said.

"I just hope to God he's okay, because if he isn't, she'll never be the same again." Lucas told them.

------------

Another hour of silence passed, Peyton was still asleep and Lucas, Nathan and Haley were sitting, more or less silently, in the chairs next to her.

Haley's head shot up when she noticed the doctor who had spoken to her and Peyton earlier walked down the hallway, towards them. She nudged Lucas in the arm.

"That's the doctor that was operating on Larry." She whispered. Lucas stood up as soon as the doctor reached them.

"How is he, Doctor?" Lucas asked.

"I'm sorry…who are you?" The doctor asked.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Lucas, Peyton's boyfriend." Lucas said extending his hand, which the doctor shook. "How's Larry?"

"Technically I'm only supposed to share this information with family…"

"I really don't want to wake her, and believe me I'm as close with Larry as Peyton is." Lucas told him.

"Alright. Well, we were able to set his wrist and leg back into place, of course he's going to need physical therapy and a cast for both. We were also able to repair the damage to his lung, however he's still not completely able to breathe on his own, he'll need the respirator for a while. He's in a comatose state for the time being, which is common with injuries as severe as his-"

"When will he wake up?" Haley asked.

"That's up to him. We repaired everything, so when he's ready to, he'll wake up."

"But he will wake up eventually right?"

"I believe so, but I must warn you that the more time he's unconscious, the less likely it is that he'll wake up. But I've seen many of these types of cases, and its highly unlikely that he won't wake up."

"Can we see him?" Lucas asked.

"He's in recovery now, but when we move him to a separate room, we'll notify you and you can see him."

"Thank you, Doctor." Haley said. With a nod, the doctor walked off.

"Thank God." Lucas said.

"You can say that again." Haley replied, dropping her head onto Nathan's shoulder.

"Uh, don't you think you should wake her up?" Nathan chimed in from behind Haley.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Lucas said as he turned and walked towards Peyton. He crouched down so he was eye-level with her and gently shook her.

"Peyt. Peyton." He whispered.

"Hm?" She mumbled.

"Peyt, baby, wake up." He whispered again, shaking her gently.

"What happened?" She asked, now fully awake.

"You're dad's out of surgery." Lucas told her.

"How is he? Can I see him? Is he okay?" Peyton questions flew out of her mouth as she jolted up into a sitting position on the chair, Lucas still kneeling in front of her.

"He's still unconscious but the doctor said he'll be fine." Lucas said.

Tears instantly sprang from Peyton's eyes again as she threw her arms around Lucas' neck, almost knocking Lucas over in the process.

"Heyy, what's wrong? This is good news." He said, rubbing her back.

"Happy tears." Peyton said, chuckling a bit.

"Everything's alright now." Lucas said, pressing his lips to her forehead before standing up.

"Can I see him?" Peyton asked, standing up from the chair.

"He's in recovery; the doctors said they'll let us know when we can see him." Haley said.

Peyton walked over to stand next to Lucas, who wrapped his arms around her waist. "I told you he'd be okay." Lucas whispered.

"Thank God." Peyton whispered, burying her head in the crook of Lucas' neck.

* * *

AN: Okay so here's the thing, I personally think this chapter stinks, the whole doctor conversation, medical jargin is not my specialy as you can probably tell ...but I needed to get it out there. I wrestled with whether or not to kill Larry, and ultimately I decided not to because I think Peyton's had enough to deal with and I may need Larry later on as a catalyst or the voice of reason or something ... plus I have other drama that I want to get started.

School is taking over my life, so I'm sorrry for the lack of updates, but apparently I'm not the only one that has that problem. Right now, I have no pre-written stuff and I'm basically writing as I go along. So i dont know when the next one will be up or even written for that matter.

And PLEASE REVIEW! It takes 5 seconds! I really need feedback, it feeds my motivation ... Tell me what you think, what you want, what you don't want, what you hate , tell me anything!!!


	32. Chapter 32

Another hour passed and Lucas and Peyton were still sitting in that same waiting room, only this time they weren't as upset and anxious. Larry was going to be okay, that's all they kept thinking. He was still unconscious, but the doctors said the odds of him waking up were well above average. Nathan and Haley agreed to go over to Peyton's house to get some of Larry's things since he'd most likely be spending a few days in the hospital.

"Miss Sawyer." A young nurse called from the hallway.

"Yes?" Peyton answered, her head jolting up from its spot on Lucas' shoulder. She stood up and walked closer to the nurse.

"Your father was moved into a room, you can go see him now." She told her.

"Is he awake?" Lucas asked as he stood up to go stand next to his girlfriend.

"Not yet, but his vitals are all good and there's no permanent damage that we can see, so right now its all up to him."

"What room is he in?" Peyton asked.

"203. I'll walk you to the room." The nurse said. Peyton nodded and began to follow her, as did Lucas but the nurse stopped him. "I'm sorry, immediate family only."

"He is family." Peyton told her without hesitation. Lucas gave her a look. The nurse nodded and the three of them walked down the hall towards Larry's room. She directed the two blondes to the door of the room and left.

Peyton placed her hand on the doorknob hesitantly, but didn't move another muscle. "Its okay Peyt, I'm right here." Lucas spoke softly in her ear while placing a hand on her back.

"I can't go in there." Peyton said, shaking her head. She then turned around and walked towards the opposite side of the hall.

"Yes you can." Lucas insisted, walking up behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

She shook her head again. "No, I can't Luke. I watched my mother die in a room just like that and-"

"But he's not going to die, Peyt." He whispered, rubbing his hands up and down her arms to try to sooth her.

"You don't know that." She said barely above a whisper, turning around so she was facing Lucas.

"Yeah I do. Your dad's not going to let go that easily, he's a fighter. You just have to believe it." Lucas reassured her. Peyton was always a pessimist, but she usually hid it. Lucas knew that, but now she was breaking down, and Lucas honestly didn't know what to do.

Peyton moved out of Lucas' grasp and walked towards the door again, placing her hand on the knob. "You'll come with me, right?" She asked in a small voice, turning back to look at him.

"Of course." Lucas assured her.

She nodded and moved to open the door but froze again when she got the door halfway open. "Breathe, Peyt." Lucas whispered. And after that she finally opened the door and walked in.

They walked in and saw Larry laying there in the single bed in the middle of the room. His arm was casted as well as the lower part of his leg. He had a few bruises too. Peyton moved to sit down on the chair next to the bed and Lucas stood behind her. She reached for her father's hand and grasped it tightly in hers.

"Hey Daddy." She whispered. "I don't know if you can hear me, but we-I really need you to wake up. I need you, Dad. I've been a horrible daughter and I'm sorry but if you wake up I swear to God I'll never hurt you again." She rambled, half sobbing.

And that's how the two spent the next few hours. Peyton sitting there pleading with her father and Lucas sitting closely behind her, doing anything he could to try and comfort her.

-----------------

"I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over, you'll have to leave now." An older nurse with glasses and a clipboard said from the doorway. Peyton was half asleep in the chair and Lucas was staring at her intently.

"Okay." Lucas said, nodding. The nurse also nodded and shut the door behind her. "Peyton." He said, gently shaking her out of her sleep. "We have to go."

"Oh." She said, sitting up. "Can I have a second?" She asked, gesturing between her and her father.

"Sure, I'll be right outside." Lucas said, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead before exiting the room.

A few moments later, Peyton walked out of the room and shut the door behind her.

"You okay?" Lucas asked.

"I'll be okay when I know he's okay." She answered, walking to stand in front of him. She leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck in an almost suffocating embrace. "Thank you." She whispered in his ear.

"For what?" He asked as she pulled back.

"Just being here with me." She answered. "You didn't have to stay with me the whole time."

Lucas smiled at her. "Don't you get it? I'd do anything for you. You're my world, Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer."

"My knight in shining armor." She said, smiling. "Pardon the cliché."

Lucas smirked. "I like that title."

"You would." She said sarcastically. The next thing to be heard was a rather loud grumble coming from Peyton's stomach. "Oh that was… attractive. I guess with all the confusion I kinda forgot to eat." She laughed.

"Well, the café is closed by now, but I'm sure my mom could cook something for us." Lucas said.

"Is your mom home?" Peyton asked as they began walking down the hallway.

"Yeah she got back this afternoon."

"Oh. Well that's good, I missed her breakfasts."

"Don't let Keith hear you say that." Lucas joked.

"Never." She laughed. For the first time all day, she truly laughed and Lucas couldn't be more relieved.

----------------

"Mom? Keith?" Lucas called into the house as he and Peyton entered.

"Lucas! Peyton!" Karen exclaimed from the hall as she basically ran up to them. When she reached them, she pulled them both into a hug.

"I missed you too, Mom." Lucas said with a chuckle. "Okay, oxygen…becoming an issue." He joked as his mother let them out of the death grip they'd been pulled into.

"Sorry, I missed the two of you." Karen said.

"You've been gone for three days." Lucas said.

"And that's three days too many." She insisted. "Come on, lets go into the kitchen, I take it you're here because you're hungry?" She asked as she turned and headed towards the kitchen.

"You know us so well, Karen." Peyton joked as she followed Lucas and Karen into the kitchen.

Then it hit Karen, she hadn't asked about Larry yet. "So, how's your father doing? Keith told me what happened."

"He's still unconscious but the doctor's said he'll be fine." Peyton informed her as she and Lucas sat down at the kitchen counter.

"That's great. You're dad's always been a fighter, I'm sure he'll be fine." Karen said. "So what can I make you guys?"

"I don't care, as long as it's edible. I'm starving" Peyton said.

"Big surprise there." Lucas muttered under his breath.

Peyton elbowed him in the side. "Shut up." She said with a smile.

"Well look what the cat dragged in." Keith said as he appeared in the doorway. Everyone turned around to greet him. "How's everything with your dad, Peyton?"

"Fine, he just needs to wake up."

"That's good. What are you guys up to?"

"Food." Peyton answered. "And I don't want to hear any sarcastic remarks about my eating habits, I get enough from Lucas, thank you." She said before Keith had a chance to comment.

"Me? Sarcastic remarks? Never." Keith joked earning laughter from the whole group.

Karen finished making the sandwiches and all four of them ate while talking and joking around with each other. After they finished eating, Karen and Keith retreated to bed after insisting that Peyton stay the night. Of course, they told Lucas he was to sleep on the floor, but that wouldn't stop him, and they knew it. Soon after, Lucas and Peyton finished cleaning up and headed to Lucas' room.

"God, I'm so tired." Peyton said with a sigh as she threw herself backwards onto the bed.

"Yeah, so am I." Lucas said as he walked towards the bed after shutting the door. Peyton shifted on the bed so that Lucas could lie down next to her. She almost immediately snuggled into his chest as he put his arms around her.

"Luke?" Peyton asked after a few moments of comfortable silence.

"Hm?" He hummed.

"Do you think I'm a bad person?" She asked in a small voice.

"What?" He said, lifting his head to look down at her. "Why would you ask something like that?"

"I don't know." She sat up on the bed and turned to face him, placing a hand on his chest. "It's just… all these horrible things keep happening to me …" She looked down at suddenly became very interested in his shirt button, since she kept playing with it "and I can't help but think that maybe... I deserve it somehow."

"You are not a bad person." Lucas said firmly, also sitting up. "Don't even say that." He stared her straight in the eye.

"Then why do these things happen?"

"I don't have an answer for that, Peyt, all I know is that you are a good person."

"You make it sound like I'm a saint."

"Nobody's perfect, we all have flaws and we've all made mistakes, but we learn from those mistakes and that makes us better people. You are anything but a bad person, Peyton."

"Aren't you a tad biased?" Peyton asked with a smirk.

"Way to ruin the moment, Peyt."

"Sorry." She said, looking down.

"Any other insane questions to ask, or can we go to sleep now?" Lucas joked.

"Nope, I'm fresh out of questions for tonight."

Lucas tilted his head to look her in the eyes."You're sure you're okay, right?"

Peyton nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. Just tired."

Lucas leaned down and planted his lips on hers. "Me too." He murmured against her lips as she let out a small giggle.

"I love you." She said with a smile as they pulled away.

Lucas pecked her lips again. "I love you too." He told her as he laid back down and opened his arms, which she gladly fell into.

"Night, Luke." She mumbled into his chest as she snuggled into it.

" Night."

And during that moment, all was normal again for Lucas and Peyton, but time will only tell whether or not it will stay that way.


	33. Chapter 33

The next few weeks passed by rather slowly, but at the same time, rather quickly. Larry woke up the day after the accident and after some physical therapy sessions, was released with a clean bill of health. Of course, he wouldn't be back to his normal self for a while. Peyton insisted on watching his every move, she barely left the house. Larry wasn't exactly keen on Peyton treating him like a six year old who couldn't take care of himself and he tried to get her out of the house, but he understood why she was doing it.

Lucas, Haley and Nathan spent a lot of time in the Sawyer household, due to her refusal to leave her father alone for a single second, and they had become a tight-knit group. Haley and Nathan were officially a couple now, and Lucas and Nathan had been getting along, well, like brothers.

The 'Brooke' issue still existed, but due to Haley's wise words, Peyton decided to let it go for now. Lucas spent minimal time with Brooke; they would talk at school and during the basketball games occasionally. As far as Peyton could tell, Brooke was actually being sincere about the whole 'friend' thing, but that didn't mean she trusted her.

Rachel had integrated herself into the cheer squad and she and Brooke were basically attached at the hip. They were still working on 'Operation Steal Lucas Back from Blonde Slut', but it was getting on rather slowly due to the recent Larry-drama. That was the point though, to slowly but surely ease Brooke back into Lucas' life and establish some sort of mutual trust, which had yet to be achieved.

Lucas may be a little too trusting, but he's not stupid. He is well aware of Brooke's history, hell, he's part of it. Brooke hurt him, and she hurt the one person that Lucas loves more than life itself, Peyton. So he wasn't exactly making it easy for Brooke.

"So what are we doing tonight?" Lucas asked from his spot on the floor against the couch.

It was about 6pm and the four teens, Nathan, Lucas, Peyton and Haley were all bored out of their minds, sitting around Peyton's living room.

"I don't know, what do you guys feel like doing?" Haley asked, unenthusiastically from her place sprawled across the over-sized armchair next to Lucas.

"Rent movies?" Peyton chimed in from her place on the couch, behind Lucas.

"We did that yesterday." Nathan commented as he walked back into the room from the kitchen, carrying four cans of soda and handed one to each person before taking a seat on the floor in front of the chair Haley was laying across.

"And the day before that." Lucas said.

"And the day before that." Haley commented. "Let's face it guys, we're in a major rut."

"You can say that again." Nathan muttered.

As soon as that sentence was finished, a loud bang from upstairs, followed by a grunt was heard, causing all four of them to turn their heads towards the stairs.

"Dad?" Peyton called as she got up and walked towards the stairs. "You okay?" She asked as she walked up the staircase to find Larry standing in the doorway of his bedroom and a pile of books on the floor. "Doing some light reading?" Peyton joked, flickering her eyes from the pile of books to her father's agitated facial expression.

"I was going to bring them downstairs and put them away." Larry said.

"Dad, you know you're not supposed to put too much weight on that leg, now why don't you just go back in your room and rest, okay?" Peyton said, waving her hands towards his bedroom before bending down to pick up the books.

"Peyton, I can deal without you patronizing me, thank you." Larry huffed, as Peyton looked up at him. "Sorry, but really, you and your friends have been spending too much time here, why don't you go out for a while? Get some pizza, go to a movie, you don't have to sit here and watch me 24/7."

"I know that, but I'm just-" She stood up from her spot on the floor.

"I know, you're concerned, but you don't have to be, in a few days this blasted cast will be off my leg and I'll be back to normal, now why don't you go have fun with your friends, I've been taking care of myself for quite some time now, I can handle it." He finished with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Peyton asked skeptically.

"I'm positive, besides Keith and Karen are supposed to come visit later."

"Alright. Just don't move around too much and try not to-"

"Yes, mom." He joked.

"Daddy, I'm serious."

"I know you are." He smiled. " …now get out." He said in a mock-serious tone.

Peyton laughed. "Okay, bye Dad. Love you." She said and with a kiss on the cheek she skipped down the stairs.

-------------------------------

"Okay guys, my dad's kicking us out." Peyton said as she walked back into the living room.

"It's about damn time." Lucas said, getting up from his spot on the floor.

"I'm sorry guys; I guess I went a little overboard." Peyton said.

"Ya think? Damn Sawyer, you were like the Nazi Babysitter." Nathan commented.

"Hey!" She said, playfully hitting his shoulder.

"Okay, guys let's get out of this house before I slash my wrists simply because I'm too bored to live." Haley said jumping out of the chair, grabbing Nathan's arm, dragging him out of the house.

"Well, where to?" Lucas asked as the four of them reached the sidewalk outside.

"Why don't we all go to the Café, because I'm starving." Peyton said.

"Big surprise." Nathan and Lucas said in between coughs simultaneously.

"Oh dude, shut up." Peyton said. "And you," She pointed towards Lucas. "Better watch the comments, because I'm within my rights to cut you off from…various activities, if you catch my drift." She said with a devious look on her face.

"Yes, Ma'am." Lucas replied.

"You are so whipped, man." Nathan said, shaking his head.

"Nate, don't forget that I can cut you off too." Haley chimed in as she started walking down the driveway.

"Ugh, you see what you started?" Nathan said towards Peyton.

"I'm a trend setter, what can I say?" Peyton said with a laugh. "Okay, why don't we walk to the Café, it's a beautiful night for a walk."

"Sounds like a plan." Lucas said as he reached for Peyton's hand and the four of them walked off to the Café.


	34. Chapter 34

"Hey kids." Karen greeted with a warm smile as the four teens entered the Café.

"Hey Mom." "Hey Karen" The kids said simultaneously as they walked through the door and took a seat at the nearest booth. Karen walked over to them with her paper and pen, ready to take their orders.

"How is your father, Peyton?" Karen asked the blonde who was seated next to Haley and across from Lucas.

"He's getting better. He practically threw us out of the house today." Peyton said with a chuckle.

"I'm glad to hear that. I told him Keith and I would stop by later."

"Yeah, he told me. He's looking forward to it."

"Good. Okay what can I get you guys?" Karen asked.

"The usual. Giant order of cheese fries, four root beers and four burgers with everything?" Peyton asked, looking around the table to make sure that was what everyone agreed on. They all nodded their approval and Karen went to place their orders.

"Is it sad that we have a 'usual'?" Haley asked.

"Of course not." Nathan said with a laugh.

"Not at all." Peyton said, shaking her head, laughing as well.

"So what are we doing this weekend. We have no school on Monday orTuesday.?" Lucas asked after a few minutes of silence.

"There's a game on Friday, so that means there's a party afterwards." Peyton said.

"Yeah it's at Bevin's this week." Nathan filled them in. "My dad's going to be out of town all weekend, including Friday so we could go back to my house after the party and hang out."

"Sounds like a plan." Haley agreed.

"Okay, here we go." Karen said as she walked towards the table with their food and placed the plates on the table.

"Thanks Mom." Lucas said.

"Your welcome, guys. I'm going to go get Keith and head over to Larry's, you think you can handle locking up for me?" Karen asked.

"Sure thing." Lucas said.

"Okay, bye kids." Karen said with a wave as she left the café.

The teens carried on talking and laughing. Then, just as Nathan and Peyton were in the middle of an acceptable Borat impression, Brooke walked in with her red-headed other half, Rachel.

"Hey guys!" Brooke said with a rather convincing cheery tone as she dragged Rachel over to the table where the teens were seated.

"Uh, hey Brooke." Lucas greeted as Brooke and Rachel stood in front of their table.

"You guys remember Rachel, right?" Brooke said referring to the red-head.

"Yeah, hey Rachel." The group responded.

"Hey." Rachel said with a wave.

An awkward moment of silence, and smiles followed before Lucas spoke up.

"Uh you guys want to join us?" He asked, gesturing towards the group.

"Sure, why not?" Brooke said as she all but subtly scooted into the booth next to Lucas. Peyton moved over so that Rachel could sit next to her.

"So what are you guys up to?" Brooke asked in a way to cheery to be real voice.

"Nothing, just grabbing dinner and we might rent movies later on." Lucas responded.

"Oh, super. Which movie?" Brooke asked.

"I want to see Knocked Up." Haley chimed in from her spot next to Peyton.

"Wait… is that the one with that chick from Grey's Anatomy?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, Katherine Heigl." Peyton answered.

"Oh, I saw that, it was hysterical." Brooke commented.

"What about Super Bad?" Lucas asked. "I heard that was hilarious."

"Oh I saw that when it came out." Rachel said.

"How was it?" Haley asked.

"I don't know." She said, earning a look from the group. "I was with a guy…and we weren't exactly paying attention to the movie." The group gave her the 'Oh!' face.

"You whore." Brooke said under her breath.

"Oh, like you're much better." Rachel countered.

"Ok, new subject." Peyton said loudly, clapping her hands together.

"Yeah, um, are you guys going to Bevin's party after the game?" Nathan asked Rachel and Brooke.

"Totally." Brooke replied. "Its not a party unless I'm there." She added. Peyton and Haley rolled their eyes. "Right Lucas?" Brooke asked flirtingly.

"Wow, would you look at the time?" Haley said, dismissing Brooke's obvious flirtation. "We should probably get going if we're going to make it to the movie place before it closes."

"Yeah, you're right." Peyton agreed.

The teens all got up out of their seats and Lucas and Nathan cleaned up the plates.

"So I guess we'll see you guys later." Brooke said.

"Yeah, I guess so." Peyton said, a little too quickly with a side of attitude.

"Why don't you guys join us?" Nathan suggested. Haley jabbed him in the stomach with her elbow.

"Oh, that'd be great!" Brooke exclaimed.

"Nathan, can I get a hand?" Lucas called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, Nate why don't you go help Luke, you've done enough here." Haley said with a glare.

"Coming!" Nathan yelled and all but ran to the back.

"I'm going to go use the bathroom." Peyton said as she excused herself from the group, glaring at Brooke as she did so.

"I'll be in the car." Rachel said as she walked towards the door, leaving Brooke and Haley alone.

"I'll come with you." Brooke said as she turned around, but Haley grabbed her arm.

"Wait just a minute, Cheery." Haley said, grinding her teeth. "Though it may be hard with your rather small brain, I want you to listen very closely, to what I have to say because I'm only going to say this once." She said in a rushed, threatening whisper. "Leave Lucas and Peyton alone."

"What are you talking about Haley?" Brooke said, as if she was oblivious to what Haley was talking about, but in reality she knew exactly what she meant.

"Oh don't play dumb with me."

"Well you did say I had a small brain…"

"Don't get cute either, this is anything but a joking matter. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Whatever you're up to, whatever you think you're going to accomplish by getting close to Lucas…its not going to work. They are happy together, and no matter what happens they'll get through it…together"

"Haley-"

"I'm not finished!" Haley snapped. "They've waited too long to be happy and they deserve it, and no little conniving whore like you is going to tear them apart. Got it?"

"Are you done now?" Brooke asked sarcastically. Haley glared. "I don't know what's going through that rather large head of yours, but I'm not 'up to' " She air quoted. "anything. And whatever happens or doesn't happen between Lucas and Peyton isn't your business anyway. And sooner or later Lucas will realize that the blonde bean pole isn't good enough for him, and he'll come crawling back to me." She said in a low tone, just as the rest of the gang came back from the kitchen. Haley didn't move her eyes from Brooke.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Nathan asked carefully, noticing how close they were standing and how Haley was glaring at Brooke.

Haley turned towards them and smiled. "Nothing, just talking. Ready to go?" She asked. They nodded and walked towards the door. Lucas slung his arm around Peyton's shoulders and Nathan grabbed Haley's hand and they all headed out of the café, leaving Brooke glaring behind them before following suit.

Haley worked hard on getting Lucas and Peyton together, and she'll be damned if she let Brooke Davis tear her two best friends apart. No, that wouldn't happen, not after all they'd gone through together. The question was, how would she stop Brooke? And if Brooke succeeded, what would happen to the world as they knew it?

-------------------------------

Okay guys, I'm SO sorry for the lack of updates, I know you all probably hate me but I've been extremely busy with school and other things and I know excuses aren't really acceptable but its the truth. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I kinda hit a road block and I dont know where to go with it now, so Suggestions are always appreciated.

Thanks for reading, and please REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!


	35. Chapter 35

Since Rachel and Brooke had driven there in Rachel's truck, they offered to drive the rest of the gang to the video store.

"So what movie are we getting?" Peyton asked as the group walked into the store.

"I'm in the mood for comedy, and now that you mentioned Knocked Up before, I want to see it." Haley replied.

"Sounds great, I'll go to the comedy section and grab it." Lucas said, eyeing Peyton.

"Yeah, I'll go with you." Peyton said as she grabbed Lucas' arm and dragged him back to the comedy section of the video store. Obvious to the rest of the group, they weren't just going back there to look at movies. Brooke glared at the two as they walked away, and that didn't go unnoticed by Haley.

"Come on Nate, we'll get the snacks." Haley said grabbing Nathan's arm and walking away, while glaring at Brooke.

-------------

"Snow Caps or Goobers?" Nathan asked holding up two boxes of candy, waving them up and down.

"Huh?" Haley asked, while she stared at Brooke and Rachel through the spaces between shelves.

"So, I'm thinking of moving to Guam, growing a beard and becoming a celibate hermit who lives in a cave. Are you okay with that?" Nathan asked, knowing that Haley wasn't paying attention to him.

"Sure, whatever." Haley replied, still staring in the opposite direction.

"Haley." Nathan said. Nothing. "Hales." Still no reaction. "Haley James!" Nathan said a bit louder, causing Haley to turn around and knock over a few boxes of candy.

"God Nathan , now look what you made me do." Haley said, picking up what she knocked over.

"Sorry, but dare I ask why you are suddenly so intrigued by Brooke and Rachel?"

"What are you talking about?" Haley said, trying to play it cool.

"Come on Hales, just tell me what's going on."

"Fine, but you cannot say a single word of any of this to Lucas or Peyton…especially not Peyton." Haley said in a hushed tone. Nathan nodded. "Okay, well Brooke seems to think in her extremely delusional little brain that she still has a chance with Lucas and she pretty much told me that she will stop at nothing until she gets him back."

"What?!" Nathan yelled a bit too loudly, and Haley covered his mouth with her hand.

"Shhh!"

He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Sorry."

"Just keep it between you and me."

"Uhuh. What are you going to do now?" Nathan asked.

"I don't know. I guess we'll just have to keep Brooke away from Lucas, and vice versa." Haley said, as Nathan nodded in agreement.

-------------

"So do you actually wanna look for that movie?" Peyton said as Lucas trailed kisses down her neck and onto her shoulder. Lucas mumbled an 'Uh-huh' into her collar bone. Lucas detached himself from her shoulder and moved up to her mouth. She responded to the kiss by opening her mouth and allowing his tongue to slip inside.

Reluctantly Peyton pulled away. "Luke, I think we should stop now."

"Oh come on, we're in the Musicals section of a video store… no one comes in here."

"Good point. But we've been back here for 20 minutes, the gang is probably waiting for us."

Lucas groaned. "Fine, fine. Let's get the movie and go." He said moving out the aisle, faking a hurt expression on his face.

Peyton grabbed his bicep and pulled him back. "Oh come on, Luke, don't be mad." She said, playing along.

"I'm not mad." He said, exaggerating the pout on his face by sticking his lower lip out.

"Ya know, the pouting thing is kinda sexy." Peyton said, reaching up to grab his lip between her teeth.

"Ya think?"

"I know." She said with a giggle. "Now, come on. I promise I'll make it up to you tonight." She finished with a wink. Lucas raised his eyebrows at her and then led her out of the aisle.

-----------------

Meanwhile...

"My God, do you see that?" Rachel said pointing to where Lucas and Peyton were making out in the back of the store. After Lucas and Peyton moved towards the Musicals section, Brooke and Rachel decided to follow them.

"Yeah, sickening isn't it?" Brooke remarked.

"Just a bit." Rachel replied.

"Yeah well, I figure, let them enjoy their 'honeymoon' phase, and then when the time is right, I'll make my move, and then Lucas will be saying 'Peyton who?'"

"You sure are sure of yourself, aren't you?"

"Well, look at me." Brooke said pointing to herself. "There's no way Lucas would be able to resist me once I put my plan into motion." She finished turning her attention back to the young couple, who were still involved in a heavy make-out session.

"I don't know, I mean they really are in l-"Rachel was cut off.

"Love is overrated. And there's no way he would choose her over me."

"Didn't he already do that?"

"You're supposed to be on my side! Stop defending the boyfriend stealing whore."

"Well now, technically, you would be the boyfriend stealing whore."

"Just shut up, okay?" Brooke said. "You just wait and see, by the end of the year, Lucas will be mine."

"Whatever you say…" Rachel said.

-----------

"Okay, we got Knocked Up and we decided to throw in Eurotrip for good measure." Lucas said as they walked out of the store.

"Cool. I got popcorn, snow caps and anything else that could put us in a sugar coma." Haley said.

"Ooh fun." Peyton said.

"So back to my house?" Lucas suggested. The group nodded and they headed back to Lucas'.

-----------

"I call the recliner!" Nathan yelled once they arrived at Lucas' house. He then proceeded to run to grab the chair before anyone else did, and he succeeded.

"Nathan, I swear sometimes you act like a three year old." Haley said shaking her head, causing everyone to laugh.

"No I don't, I'm just sick of getting stuck on the floor." Nathan defended as the rest of the group took their seats.

"Such a gentleman, making the girl sit on the floor, well I'm going to sit next to you, just because of that."

Lucas and Peyton chose to sit on the couch, Haley took a seat on the recliner with Nathan (just to annoy him), and Rachel sat on the floor with her back to the couch. Brooke chose to squish herself next to Lucas on the couch. That action sent Haley's anger through the roof.

"Uh, guys?" Peyton asked. "Are we going to put the movie in, or just stare at the blank screen all night?"

"Oh right, I'll do it." Haley said, getting up from her spot on the chair. She put the movie in and then sat back down. Lucas put his arm around Peyton and she nestled her head into his shoulder. Haley leaned back on Nathan's chest and the rest of the group got comfortable and watched the movie.

-----------

"I'm hungry." Peyton said after a half hour.

"You? Hungry? What a surprise." Nathan remarked, causing Peyton to chuck a pillow at his head.

"Shut up, dude." Peyton said. "I'm going to get a snack, anybody want anything?"

"I'll take a soda." Nathan asked.

"Um, no, not after that little remark you just made." Peyton said as she walked past him towards the kitchen.

"Oh come on, Peyt, I was kidding." Nathan said, but it fell on deaf ears.

Over on the couch, Brooke was getting very chatty with Lucas and it didn't go unnoticed by Haley. Brooke was giggling and twirling her hair like a little school girl, and Lucas was totally oblivious to her flirting. Even as Peyton came back and sat down, Brooke was still going.

A load of candy and two comedies later, and their movie night was over and everyone was heading home.

"Bye guys." Peyton said waving from the doorway as Nathan and Haley left.

"And then there were four." Peyton said as she shut the door. Brooke and Rachel were still sitting on the couch and Lucas was cleaning up.

"Yeah, I think we better get going, huh Brooke?" Rachel said, standing up, fixing her jeans as she did so.

"Yeah in a minute, I'm just going to use the bathroom." Brooke said as she headed towards the back of the house.

"Okay, I'll be in the car. Bye Peyton." Rachel said as she walked out the door.

"Bye." Peyton said as she started picking up some of the garbage on the coffee table.

------

Meanwhile, in the kitchen.

"Need a hand?" Brooke asked, poking her head in the kitchen where Lucas was.

"You don't have to help me." Lucas said as he threw the trash away.

"Eh, I have nothing else to do." Brooke said as she started cleaning up the table. "So, tonight was fun."

"Yeah, it was." Lucas said.

"We should do it more often." Brooke said. "Its nice."

"What is?"

"Us. Being friends." Brooke replied.

"We are friends, Brooke."

"Yeah I know, but we never really hang out." Brooke said. "I like spending time with you, Luke."

"I like spending time with you too, Brooke." Lucas said, oblivious to what Brooke was getting at.

"Really?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah, despite what's happened between us in the past."

"Good. That's good." Brooke said, moving a bit closer to Lucas.

"And I really appreciate you being civil with Peyton."

"That's all in the past now." Brooke said.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Peyton said as she walked into the kitchen. The sight before her was a bit compromising, Brooke was a little too close to Lucas then she would like her to be.

"Uh, nothing. I was just helping Luke clean up. Wow, look at the time, I better get going." Brooke said quickly and all but ran out the door.

"What's her deal?" Peyton asked.

"Beats me." Lucas said with a shrug.

"So what exactly did I walk in on just now?" Peyton asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you two looked pretty cozy in here."

"Oh great, we're back at this again." Lucas said with a frustrated groan.

"What? Don't I have the right to know whether or not my boyfriend is sneaking around behind my back?"

"Peyton, you are totally blowing this out of proportion!"

"Blowing this out of proportion?! Lucas are you so blind that you can't see what Brooke is doing?"

"Well then maybe you should enlighten me!" Lucas said.

"She was flirting with you the ENTIRE night, and you don't even notice that!? She practically sat in your lap before, and now I walk in and she's like 3 seconds away from kissing you!"

"Oh Peyton , please, just stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"Stop being so over-dramatic! Brooke and I are friends, and just because you don't like her-"

"If my memory serves me right, you used to hate her and now you're like attached at the fucking hip!"

"Oh give me a break." Lucas said with a frustrated sigh. "Yes, okay, because of what happened in the past with Brooke, I did hate her, but she's a changed person now, she's a better person and maybe you are just too paranoid to see it!"

"Oh you did not just call me paranoid! I am trying to protect our relationship, but it looks like you don't care enough to see that Brooke is using any excuse she can to push me out of the way!"

"Peyton-"

"No!" Peyton yelled. "You know what Lucas? Forget it, just go be with that whore for all I care, because as of right now, our relationship is on some thin ice, and its wearing thinner by the second."

"Peyt-"

Lucas cringed when he heard the door slam shut signaling that Peyton had left the building… but for how long? Will they forgive and forget? Will Brooke get what she wanted sooner than she thought? Will that ice finally break and leave their relationship in shambles? Only time will tell the fate of Lucas, Peyton…and Brooke.

* * *

AN: Okay, I originally planned on making this a purely fluffy chapter, as a Christmas gift for all of you... but then I figured, I've left you in suspense with the drama for too long and I might as well jump right into it... so I did. I don't like how I did it, but I couldnt figure out another way to set it all up. I hope you liked it )

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!! I'm not sure when the next update will be, but since its winer break, you might get another by the end of the week )


	36. Chapter 36

"Lucas!" Nathan yelled as he spotted Lucas walking rather quickly through the halls of Tree Hill High. At the sound of his younger brother's voice, Lucas stopped and turned around to face him.

"Hey Nate." Lucas said, lack of enthusiasm clearly evident in his voice.

"Wow, man, you look like hell." Nathan commented when he saw his brother who looked like he had just been stomped on by a giant elephant. "I haven't seen you since Saturday night, where have you been hiding?"

"I haven't been hiding." Lucas said dryly.

"What's up with you?" Nathan asked noticing Lucas' attitude.

"Nothing, Nate, I'm fine." Lucas said, staring over Nathan's shoulder. Nathan turned around to see what his brother was staring at and sure enough, his gaze fell upon a certain green-eyed blonde walking across the quad. Noticing Nathan's staring, Lucas quickly averted his eyes to the floor.

"Something going on with you and Peyton?" Nathan asked.

Lucas scoffed. "She's been ignoring me, so at this point, you know as much as I do."

"What did you do?" Nathan asked.

"What do you mean 'what did I do?' Who said it was my fault?" Lucas asked, a bit annoyed.

Nathan raised his hands in defense. "I didn't say it was your fault, but if Peyton isn't talking to you, she probably has a good reason."

"I don't know what happened. One minute, she's happy and smiling, the next she's pissed off and slamming doors."

"Well when did this door slamming take place?"

"Last week after you guys left my house."

"What happened?"

"Apparently, I've been getting too friendly with Brooke and Peyton thinks she's up to her old tricks."

"Being a manipulative bitch?"

"You got it." Lucas said. "Well, Peyton walked into the kitchen and saw Brooke and I in a…compromising position-"

"Wait…compromising? How compromising?"

"Nothing like that, you perv. We were just standing close together." Nathan nodded, urging Lucas to continue. "And Peyton walked in and went psycho and started screaming about Brooke and I sneaking around, which is completely untrue might I add, and then she yelled something about our relationship being on thin ice and ran out. I haven't talked to her since." Lucas explained.

"Wow." Nathan said with a sigh. "I don't know what to say. I mean, you're obviously not with Brooke."

"We already established that Nate, but Brooke's my friend and as much as I love Peyton, I won't end my friendship with her just because Peyton says so."

"Well maybe you should just spend less time with Brooke until Peyton cools down a bit."

"Yeah but that would pretty much tell Peyton that she has control over me and my life."

"Look man, I'm not going to tell you how to live your life but if you value your relationship with Peyton, I think it would be wise, for now at least, to just not hang out with Brooke so much."

"I don't spend that much time with her as it is."

"Obviously you spend enough time with her to make Peyton suspicious."

"Don't you think Peyton should trust me enough to know I wouldn't cheat on her, especially with Brooke?"

"Well then you should prove that to Peyton. Talk to her, dude."

"We aren't exactly on speaking terms."

"Well if you both ignore each other, nothing is going to be solved."

"How do you suppose I get her to listen to me. I mean, I don't even know if she's still my girlfriend."

"Hey boys." Nathan and Lucas turned around to find the owner of the voice, and sure enough saw the bubbly brunette they were just talking about standing next to them.

"Uh, hey Brooke." Lucas said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Hey Brooke." Nathan said. "Listen, I've gotta go find Haley, think about what I said." He finished, giving Lucas a look before walking off.

"What was that about?" Brooke said, noticing their weird behavior.

"Huh? Oh nothing. Me and Nate were just talking." Lucas said.

"Right. So, I've been meaning to talk to you about the other night." Brooke said, interlacing her fingers in font of her as they began walking down the hallway.

"What about it?" Lucas asked.

"Well, with Peyton and everything."

"How do you-" Lucas began, skeptically.

"After I left, Rachel had to make a phone call so we sat outside your house for a few minutes and I heard her yelling." Brooke explained, noticing Lucas' skepticism.

"Oh."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to cause any tension between the two of you."

"It's not your fault, Brooke." Lucas said even though it was a bold-faced lie. "Peyton and I just have a lot of stuff going on and it just snowballed out of control-"

"And that's why she's been ignoring you for the past week."

"How do you know all this?"

"Luke, I may not be the next Einstein but I'm not stupid, you guys are normally attached at the hip, but she's been blowing you off all day."

"It's that obvious?" Lucas asked, raising his eyebrows

Brooke chuckled. "Yeah, it is." She said. "And I can't help but feel like I caused it."

"Don't worry about Peyton and I, we'll figure it out."

Brooke inhaled. "Okay, well, I just wanted to make sure we were okay."

"We were never not okay, Brooke."

"Good to know." Brooke said with her signature Davis smile. "Well in that case, I'm throwing a party at my house after the game on Friday, and I expect you to be there."

"Of course."

"Good. Okay well, I should go find Rachel and drag her to English class."

"See you later." Lucas said with a wave as Brooke walked off to the crowd of guys that Rachel was most likely in the middle of.

---------------------

"Okay, I'll see you next week to go over your notes for the Calculus exam." Haley said to one of the students she was tutoring as said student left the tutor center. Haley walked over to the table and started gathering her things. Nathan spotted Haley and quietly walked up behind her, placing his hands over her eyes.

"Guess who?" Nathan asked.

"Hmm… Brad Pitt?" Haley teased.

"Very close." Nathan said with a laugh as Haley turned around, his arms instinctively locking behind her back.

"Oh, its only you." Haley teased.

Nathan placed his hand over his heart, pretending to be hurt. "Oh, Haley how you wound me."

"I'm sorry, did I bruise your ego?" Haley giggled and leaned up to kiss Nathan.

"Mm.. you're forgiven." Nathan said after they broke away.

"Lucky me." Haley said. "What's wrong?" She asked, noticing Nathan's perplexed expression.

"What? Oh nothing. Just thinking."

"About…"

"Lucas and Peyton." Nathan answered.

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that. What's going on with them?"

"In a nutshell… Peyton is jealous of Brooke because she thinks Lucas and Brooke are sneaking around. Peyton blew up at Lucas, thus semi-ending their relationship. Now they aren't speaking."

"Oh my god." Haley said.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Nathan said. "I mean, Peyton shouldn't be so quick to-"

"Wait, are you actually telling me you think Peyton doesn't have the right to be upset?"

"No I-"

"Because she certainly does. Brooke is bad news, she can't be trusted."

"Haley don't you think maybe everybody is a little quick to blame Brooke for everything? Maybe she's not such a bad person." Haley gave him a look, as to say 'you've got to be kidding me' "Okay, okay, point taken." Nathan said holding his hands up in defense.

"Brooke has been after Lucas for as long as I can remember and there's nothing that can change my mind about her."

"Did you talk to Lucas?"

"Yeah and he's really beaten up over it."

"I noticed, he's been walking around like a zombie all day." Haley said. "Has he tried to talk to Peyton?"

"Not yet, but I told him to."

"Hopefully he listens." Haley said. "Well, I was on my way to talk to Peyton anyway, so I'll try and get something out of her."

"Good idea."

"Yeah, I'll call you later." Haley said, kissing Nathan on the cheek as she walked by.

"Bye."

-------------

"Peyton!" Haley yelled as she spotted Peyton near her locker.

"Hey Hales." Peyton said, rather unenthusiastically.

"Hey."

"What's up?" Peyton asked as she shut her locker door and began walking with Haley.

"Nothing, just wondering if I could get a ride home."

"Yeah, sure." Peyton said with a nod.

"So…" Haley dragged out awkwardly.

"Go ahead and ask Hales, I know you want to." Peyton said, fully knowing where Haley was going with this.

"What happened with you and Luke?" Haley asked quickly.

"We fought."

"Oh please, don't bore me with details." Haley said sarcastically.

"I don't know, Hales. I mean, I love Lucas, you know I do but lately the way he's been hanging out with Brooke and the way I caught them in the kitchen on Saturday, I just don't know what to do anymore. I can't help but feel like there's something going on between them, they have history and I'm positive Brooke's still into him."

"Yeah, but Peyton, Lucas is completely in love with you, he wouldn't do that to you."

Peyton sighed. "I know that, and I should trust him on this but I just have this weird feeling that something's going on."

"Well, Nathan talked to Lucas and he said Lucas is really beaten up about it."

"I know and I feel horrible about that."

"Well, dummy, why haven't you talked to him about it?"

"Would it be really lame to say I don't know how?"

"You guys have known each other forever but now you're afraid to talk to him?" Haley asked.

"Yes?"

"Peyton."

"I don't know Hales, what do I say to him? 'Sorry I screamed at you, I'm a bitch, lets hug?'"

"Just apologize to him, talk it out with him, tell him why you feel the way you do and you guys can work to fix it. I have faith in you guys, you're the power-couple of this soap-opera known as high school."

"Thanks, Dr. Phil." Peyton laughed.

"I prefer Oprah." Haley teased.

"Oh, does that mean you're going to give me a new car?"

"No, I'm the cheap version of Oprah."

"Lucky me." Peyton laughed. "Come on, I'll drive you home in my very old car." She teased.

-------------------

Pulling up in front of Peyton's house, Lucas put his car in park and took a deep breath. This is the moment that could dictate his future, and he was feeling rather pessimistic about the whole thing. While Nathan's pep talk earlier boosted his self esteem long enough to get him to Peyton's house, it had somewhat faded as he reached her doorstep. He didn't bother knocking, he could hear the stereo from outside, obviously Peyton wouldn't hear him.

His need for deep breaths increased as he walked up the staircase towards her bedroom. When he reached her room, he saw her, sitting in her desk chair, sketchpad in hand, Foo Fighters playing in the background. Lucas knew this could only mean one thing… she was pissed.

He knocked gently on the door, but got no response. Then he knocked a bit harder and this time, she must have heard him because she jumped ten feet in the air.

"Jesus, Luke you scared me." She said, clutching her chest.

"Sorry."

"Ever try ringing the doorbell before entering someone's house?"

"You never hear the bell." He said with a shrug.

"What are you doing here Lucas?" Peyton said, wanting to cut to the chase.

"Isn't it obvious?"

She let out a sigh. "Luke-" She let out as she got up from the chair and walked towards her closet.

"No, Peyton we have to talk about this." Lucas said, following her.

"What do you want me to say, Lucas?"

"I want you to say that you want this to work and that you forgive me and that we can move past this." Lucas said, his eyes pleading with her.

"I don't know if I can do that." Peyton mumbled with tears in her eyes. She moved to stand facing the wall, her back to Lucas.

"No-God Peyt, don't do this, okay? Don't do this." He said walking up behind her.

"You haven't given me much of a choice, Luke." She whispered, turning her head slightly.

"Peyt-"

"No, this has gone on for way too long, it seems that no matter what, something always comes between us. I don't know if it's worth it anymore, if its just going to get screwed up."

Lucas moved around to face her and grabbed her shoulders. "Peyton, you cannot give up on us. I won't let you do this, not because of something that you think is true."

"Oh so you're saying its not?" She asked, punctuating the sentence with a scoff.

"That I'm sleeping with Brooke!?" He exclaimed. "Peyton I thought you knew me better than that!"

"Yeah, so did I!" She yelled back.

"I would NEVER do anything like that, let alone to you." He said, his tone a bit harsher than intended.

"Then how come every time I turn around your with her? And don't even get me started on the rumors."

"You should know better than to believe rumors, especially in Tree Hill, Peyton."

"Lucas-"

"No, just listen to me, okay?" He pleaded, seeing that yelling was getting them nowhere. "I love you, Peyton. These few days without you have been hell on earth for me, Peyt. You're more to me than just a girlfriend, you're also my best friend and I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you in my life, as cheesy and corny as it sounds." He smiled slightly, reaching for her hands. " I don't know what I did to make you think you can't trust me, but I'll do whatever it takes to fix that, to make you trust me, to make you trust us and believe in us, because you're it for me, Peyton, there's no one else I'd rather be with than you."

Peyton was speechless as she looked at him, tears in both their eyes. "Luke-I-I don't know what to say-"

"Don't say anything, just promise me, you'll trust me."

"Trust isn't an easy thing for me, Luke."

"I'm well aware of that, believe me." He smiled. "Peyton, I know you better than anyone and I know how big a deal it is for you to trust someone, but its me, its Lucas, you're best friend, you're boyfriend, just tell me you'll try to trust me, like you used to."

"I will." She said as she met his eyes. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, placing his chin on top of her head, inhaling the intoxicating scent of her hair.

"That's all I ask." He said with a slight chuckle. "Are we okay now?"

"Yeah, we are." She mumbled into his shoulder.

"I love you." He whispered into her hair, placing a light kiss on the top of her head.

"I love you too." She said as she pulled away to look him in the eye.

She leaned up to kiss him and instinctively, he weaved his fingers into her golden locks, deepening the kiss. She started moving him backwards until his knees hit the mattress and they collapsed on top of her bed. She moved her hands from around his neck, down his chest and under his t-shirt. He groaned at the feel of her cool hands on his skin.

He moved his hands from her hair and put them around her waist, breaking the kiss only to peel off the t-shirt she was wearing to reveal a spaghetti strap tank underneath. She shivered as the cool air hit her bare shoulders and Lucas took this opportunity to flip them over so now he was on top.

He dropped a few kisses on her collarbone before pulling back to pull off his own shirt and leaning back down to kiss her, hard on the mouth. She whimpered as his hands traveled down the length of her body, pulling off the tank she wore so she was left in nothing but her bra and a pair of well-fitted jeans. She made quick work of his belt and he helped her out of her pants. Before long, they were both in nothing but their underwear.

"Luke-"She gasped as he sucked at her collarbone, and moved his lips up her neck, towards the sensitive spot right below her right earlobe.

She flipped them over in order to gain control and began kissing a trail down his chest, stopping at the rim of his boxers and going back up. She licked and bit at his neck, eliciting a moan from the boy underneath her. She attacked his lips again, and they were thrown back into a rather heated make out session.

"God I want you." Lucas moaned as he sucked on her pulse point.

"I'm yours." She breathed out. "Take me."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, her heart pounding. "It's not like we haven't done it before." She smiled. He nodded and reached into her bedside drawer for a condom and they made love for what seemed like an eternity.


	37. Chapter 37

**Author's note: I know, I know...you all hate me. I'm a terrible author. I've made you wait like 4 months for an update. Excuses are crap, but I'm giving you mine. I've had writer's block like you wouldn't believe, and school is a complete bitch. (and I might even have to go to summer school...isn't that fun?! Stupid NYS Regents exams) So yeah, I finally was able to finish one more chapter. I'm not sure when I'll get the next one out so please don't give up on me.**

**This story WILL get finished, eventually because if there's one thing I hate, its unfinished stories. I just got a bit of brainstorm for where I'm going with it, but I have to figure out how to execute it all. When I do, more updates will come...until then, enjoy this chapter (though it probably sucks).**

* * *

Peyton awoke to the sound of Lucas' breathing. She smiled as she remembered the previous night's activities. She was mentally kicking herself for thinking Lucas had been cheating on her, with Brooke of all people. But it wasn't really Lucas that she didn't trust, it was Brooke. Well, hopefully everything will work out for the best, she thought to herself.

She turned in Lucas' arms so she could face him. He looked so peaceful when he slept, she thought. She reached out a hand and traced his jaw line, he stirred slightly.

"Wake up, sleepyhead." She whispered, pressing her lips to his cheek. He mumbled something about it being too early and tried to go back to sleep. Smiling at his childlike behavior, she started trailing kisses down the side of his neck and then onto his shoulder. "Luuuke." She taunted.

Peyton let out a small scream when Lucas abruptly moved and pinned her down on the bed. "Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's not polite to wake people up?" He said, hovering over her.

"Its almost 7:30, we have to get ready for school." She informed him, both wearing smirks on their faces.

He let out a grunt. "Do we have to?" He whined.

"Yeah, Luke, it's a game day. You know the rule."

"No school, no game. Thanks mom." He said sarcastically. She chuckled. "Well we don't have to be in until 8:30…" He muttered, trailing kisses on her neck, down to her collarbone, eliciting a slight moan from Peyton.

"Luke-" She complained, half heartedly.

"Hmm?" He mumbled, sucking at her pulse point. Giving in, she pulled his face up to hers and into an intense kiss. Their make-out session lasted a few minutes before Peyton finally pulled away and looked up at him, smiling.

"Hi." She whispered.

"Hi." He whispered back, nuzzling his nose with hers. "I love you." He said after a few seconds.

"I love you too." She said, leaning up to kiss him. "But we still have to go."

Grunting, Lucas rolled off of her. "Yeah, I guess we do." He said.

"I'm going to brush my teeth." Grabbing Lucas' discarded shirt from the floor, she put it on and got out of the bed, heading towards the bathroom door.

"There are some of your clothes in the back of my closet." Peyton informed him from the bathroom.



"Okay." He said getting out of the bed. Before he walked to the closet, he stopped to stare at her. She was reaching up to get the toothpaste off the top shelf in her bathroom, causing his shirt which she was wearing to ride up a bit, revealing those legs he was so fond of.

"What are you staring at?" Peyton asked, bringing him out of his trance.

"Ya know, I think that shirt looks better on you." He said, tilting his head to the side, eyeing her legs.

"You're such a guy." She mumbled.

"Last time I checked, yeah." He chuckled. "Oh, before I forget there's a party tonight after the game."

"Lovely. Who's throwing it?"

"If I tell you, you promise not to bite my head off?"

"That can only mean one thing…Its Brooke isn't it?" He nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?" He asked, shocked that she didn't yell at him.

"We're trusting each other right?"

"We are." He said, stepping closer to her after he finished putting his shirt on.

"Okay then there's no need to worry. Right?" Peyton said.

"Right." He said smiling, pulling her in for a hug.

"Alright then, lets go before we're late." She said as she pulled away, grabbing his hand and heading for the door.

--

Lucas and Peyton walked through the school quad, holding hands. It wasn't long before Haley spotted them and ran towards them.

"Oh my god!" Haley squealed. "I knew you guys would work it out!" She jumped up and threw her arms around both of them.

"Hales, oxygen…becoming an issue." Peyton squeaked out.

Haley let go of them. "Sorry, I'm just so happy for you guys!" Haley half-squealed out.

"Thanks, Haley." Peyton said.

"Okay, Luke, if you wouldn't mind disappearing for a while, I have to talk to Peyton." Haley said sweetly, smiling up at Lucas.



"I suppose I don't have a choice, now do I?" Lucas said rhetorically, Haley shook her head with a chuckle. "Okay, I'll see you later?" He asked Peyton.

"Of course." She answered. Lucas leaned down to peck her on the cheek before walking off to join Nathan and the rest of the guys. Peyton stared at Lucas as he walked away.

"Come on, girlie. You can stare at Lucas' ass anytime; right now we need to talk." Haley said, dragging Peyton away.

"Okay, what's up?" Peyton asked as she and Haley sat at a vacant picnic table in the quad.

"What's up!? You and Lucas just made up, you tell me." Haley said.

"What do you want to know?" Peyton asked, smirking because she knew Haley was dying to know and it was killing her.

"I want details, girlie, and don't leave anything out." Haley demanded.

"Well he came over to my house, we fought, he wouldn't take no for an answer and he made this amazing speech about how we were meant for each other and we agreed to trust each other from now on."

"And?" Haley urged.

"And nothing, Lucas and I are good and I'm going to try and not let Brooke bother me anymore."

"Well if there's any guy worth trusting, it's Lucas. Brooke on the other hand…"

"Yeah I know, but maybe I just never gave her a fair chance, ya know?"

"Peyton-"

"No I know what you're going to say…Brooke is bad news and she can't be trusted, but apart from that one incident, she hasn't given me a reason to be skeptical of her intentions."

"Wow."

"What?" Peyton asked, confused.

"What happened to angsty, I-trust-no-one Peyton?"

"She has left the building, and has been replaced with a more open-minded Peyton who is willing to give Brooke a chance to redeem herself." Peyton said.

"Really?" Haley nodded, with an impressed look on her face.

"Yes. If Lucas and I are going to trust each other, then I should be able to trust his judgment when it comes to Brooke and know that he wouldn't cheat on me, right?"



Haley nodded. "Right."

"Speak of the friggin' devil." Peyton muttered as she saw Brooke approaching them.

The brunette walked towards their table and sat down across from the two girls, with a smile on her face.

"Hey." Brooke said sweetly.

"Hi." Haley said skeptically. Peyton just smiled.

"Okay, so you're probably wondering what I'm doing here, sitting at your table because I'm pretty sure both of you hate me, but I have a favor to ask you." She said looking at Peyton when she said the last part.

"Um… okay." Peyton said.

"Well, I know you're big into the music scene, and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to be the DJ for my party tonight?" Brooke asked, wringing her hands together with a hopeful look on her face.

"What's the catch?" Peyton asked. So much for being open-minded, she thought to herself.

"No catch. Its just that my DJ cancelled last minute and there's no one else that could do it, so I thought maybe you'd do it but if you don't want to, I get it-"

"I'll do it." Ah, open-minded Peyton is definitely back in the building.

"You will?" Brooke asked, with furrowed brows.

"Yeah." Peyton said with a nod.

"Thank you Peyton, really, you're a life saver." Brooke said. "Haley, you're coming too, right?"

"Of course, can't afford to leave Nathan alone." She joked.

"Ok, thanks again, I owe you one. Oh and Peyton there's a mandatory practice after school today" Brooke said as she got up and walked back to the group of cheerleaders.

"What was that?" Haley asked. "Who smacked her with the happy stick?"

"I have no idea. Open mind, right?" Peyton said, looking towards Haley as she nodded. "Open mind."

--

The school day went by rather quickly. And now it was time for cheerleading practice, the moment Peyton had been dreading. The mantra in her head was that she was going to give Brooke a shot, give her a chance to redeem herself, to right her wrongs and see if people can change. Peyton indeed was skeptical of the whole thing but she needed to do it, for Lucas' sake, and her own.



"Okay ladies, we have a game in less then 4 hours, we have to get this routine down." Brooke barked at the squad. "Bevin, straighten your arms… Theresa fix your posture and god dammit Lisa if you don't stop kicking your leg out instead of in, I'm going to cut your leg off!"

At that, all the girls scrambled to fix whatever they were doing wrong so the Cheer Nazi wouldn't kill them.

"Peyton! Where have you been?" Brooke yelled as she saw Peyton walking through the gym door.

"Sorry, I know I'm late, I had to help Haley out with something."

"Well since you're only late by" She checked her watch. "20 minutes, I'll let it slide, but next time be on time, we need to work on this."

"Yes Ma'am." Peyton nodded, dropping her stuff to go line up with the rest of the squad.

"Okay, take it from the top. 5,6,7,8" Brooke clapped as she counted and all the girls followed her instruction.

"Okay ladies, I think we have it down. Let's hope you can remember it 2 hours from now." Brooke said as practice ended.

"Nice work today, Peyton." Brooke said.

"Um…thanks, I guess." Peyton said as she grabbed her stuff.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" The brunette asked.

Peyton threw her a skeptical glance. "Sure…"

"Okay, so I know you hate me and as much as I don't like that fact, I get the reasons for it."

"Brooke-"

She held up her hand. "No, no just hear me out, okay?" Peyton nodded. "I know you don't like me hanging out with Lucas and I understand that, but we've become good friends and I'd really appreciate it if you could just…ignore…my past mistakes so that I can hang out with Lucas without worrying about the fact that you might be lurking around the corner ready to kill me at any moment."

"Lucas can be friends with whomever he wants, Brooke. I'm not going to stop him from hanging out with his friends, even if I don't like them."

"Peyton, no offense, but every time I'm within a five foot radius of Lucas you go berserk."

Peyton winced. "I'm sorry about that, but truthfully, I don't trust yo-"

"That fact has already been established." Brooke murmured.

"Okay, point taken. I'm a bitch to you, I know that…I have my reasons. But if you and Lucas want to hang out, then so be it. I trust him…he won't hurt me."

"Thank you." Brooke said. "I really do hope that one day…you won't hate me."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves…"

Brooke chuckled. "I better get going…don't forget you have to be at my party earlier to set everything up."

"I'll be there." Peyton said.

"See ya." Brooke grabbed her bag and waved over her shoulder as she pranced out of the gym.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Peyton muttered to herself.


End file.
